Lingonberry twist

It's the time of the year when it's worthwhile to go in the woods. When the night temperature has reached below zero (Celsius), the most of the mushrooms are dead. Only some of them, the driest ones like funnel chanterelle (suppilovahvero), survive in a modest freeze. When it comes to lingonberries, the freeze makes them more tasty. That's an old legend told from a father to son, a mother to daughter, and I can't help but agree.

We have a "sure-fire" place for picking lingonberries. It's been there for years. Only this time it wasn't that full of berries. Admitted, there was a lot of them, but yet not as much as I recalled there should have been. Me and my wife picked a little less than 10 litres together and my mother did about 7 litres. The weather was favourable; it was not that cold and windy, LOL! Ok, there was a small rain shower in the end, but otherwise it was a good berry-picking weather.

I didn't take pictures in the woods, so I'm supplying one taken in the yard of our neighbours! They had a lovely set of lingonberries there, waiting for someone to pick 'em. The picture was taken in fair sunlight, so once again the course of events has been manipulated and falsified. In reality, the berry-picking day last Saturday wasn't this sunny and warm. Read more about faking the history in my previous post, if still interested.

It doesn't however end when the picking is done. There must be a twist in my story, especially if the title suggests so, but this time it isn't a Smek twist. When the berries have been cleaned, i.e. all leaves and other impurity that doesn't belong there have been removed, it's time to smash them. Yes, the picture number 2 demonstrates how it's done. You push and twist it (there you go) with a smashing device, until it's mostly paste-like. You can use the same "weapon" smashing lingonberries as you do when smashing potatoes. Then you put a lot of sugar (it's not necessary, but the taste is pretty acid (hapokas) without) and mix it while still twisting. That's how the lingonberry jam is done. No extra ingredients, no food additives! Easy as pie and healthy as hell!

I didn't use to like lingonberry as a child, but during my ever-lasting years of adolescence, LOL, I have grown to like it. A lot, actually. Lingonberry is good as jam, used with game (riista) and food made of blood, liver and other internal organs. Furthermore, it's delicious with quark, yoghurt, in a pie, ... my personal favorite is lingonberry porridge. It's basically a semolina pudding (mannapuuro) with lingonberries. I have variated it with (red) currants and apricots. It's also easy to prepare, and the taste is beyond your wildest imagination!