"Pick & Mix" is also known as picking candy and sweets. Swedes eat most bulk candy in the world and Maundy Thursday is the biggest sales day in the grocery store engines. In Sweden eaten about 18 kilos of candy per person per year. Picking The candy accounting for around a third of the total candy consumption in Sweden, according to estimates from research firm Delphi. It sold about 100 million bags of candy in Sweden every year and an average bag weighs about 350 grams ,
”Glögg” - Mulled wine is a beverage usually made with red wine along with various mulling spices and raisins. It is served hot or warm and may be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas. Non-alcoholic and alcoholic versions of glögg can be bought ready-made or prepared with fruit juices instead of wine. The main ingredients of alcoholic glögg are red wine, sugar, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and bitter orange, and optionally also stronger spirits such as vodka, akvavit, or brandy. Throughout Scandinavia, glögg spice extract and ready-mixed spices can be purchased in grocery stores. To prepare glögg, spices and/or spice extract are mixed into the wine, which is then heated to 60-70 °C. When preparing homemade glögg using spices, the hot mixture is allowed to infuse for at least an hour, often longer, and then reheated before serving. Ready-made wine glögg (and low- or non-alcoholic varieties) is normally sold at Systembolaget in Sweden, ready to heat and serve, and not in concentrate or extract form. Glögg is generally served with raisins, blanched almonds and Ginger biscuits (Ginger Snaps), and is a popular hot drink during the Christmas season. ”Falu rödfärg” - Falu red or Falun red (/ˈfɑːluː/ FAH-loo, in Swedish Falu rödfärg (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈfɑːlɵ ˈrøːfærj])) is the name of a Swedish deep red paint well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns. The paint originated from the copper mine at Falun in Dalarna, Sweden. The traditional colour remains popular today due to its effectiveness in preserving wood. The earliest evidence of its use dates from the 16th century. During the 17th century Falu red was commonly used on smaller wooden mansions, where it was intended to imitate buildings with brick facing. Except in bigger cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg, and in the far south of Sweden, wood was the dominating building material. In the Swedish cities and towns, buildings were often painted with Falu red until the early 19th century, when the authorities began to oppose use of the paint. However Falu red saw a surge in popularity again in the countryside during the 19th century, when also poorer farmers and crofters began to paint their houses. Falu red is still widely used in the Swedish countryside. The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil and tailings from the copper mines of Falun which contain silicates iron oxides, copper compounds and zinc. The current recipe was finalized in the 1920s. As Falu red ages, the binder deteriorates leaving the colour granules loose, but restoration is easy since simply brushing the surface is all that is required before repainting. ”Fäbod” or Hillfarm or Pature. In Scandinavia, transhumance is still practiced to a certain extent; however, livestock are transported between pastures by motorized vehicles, changing the character of the movement. The Sami people practise transhumance with reindeer by a different system than is described immediately below. The common mountain or forest pasture used for transhumance in summer is called seter or bod / bua. The same term is used for a related mountain cabin, which was used as a summer residence. In summer (usually late June), livestock is moved to a mountain farm, often quite distant from a home farm, in order to preserve meadows in valleys for producing hay. Livestock were typically tended for summer by girls and younger women, who also milked and made cheese. Bulls usually remained at the home farm. As autumn approached and grazing became in short supply, livestock are returned to a home farm. ”Vikingar” – “Vikings” - Until the 9th century, the Scandinavian people lived in small Germanic kingdoms and chiefdoms known as petty kingdoms. These petty kingdoms and their royal rulers are mainly known from legends and scattered continental sources. The Scandinavian people appeared as a group separate from other Germanic nations, and at this time there was a noticeable increase in war expeditions (Viking raids) on foreign countries, which has given the name Viking Age to this period. At this time the seas were easier to travel than Europe's inland forests, and the wild buffer regions that separated the kingdoms of the time were known as marches. The Varangians accumulated some wealth from their foreign trades. A centre of trade in northern Europe developed on the island of Birka, not far from where Stockholm was later constructed, in mid-latitude Sweden. Birka declined drastically by 960, but archaeological finds indicate it was wealthy in the 9th and 10th centuries. Thousands of graves, coins, jewelry and other luxury items have been found there. |
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