A Swedish Midsummer Celebration

Our Co-Founder Elin is taking the portable UNIK office to Sweden to spend the next 3 months with family & friends, reconnecting and recharging.

We're excited to share parts of our Scandinavian heritage. A big influence on our designs and ethos as a whole. 

But first, here comes some Midsummer spam! 

In agrarian times, Midsummer celebrations in Sweden were held to welcome summertime and the season of fertility.

Midsummer takes place in June and is a celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. It is one of the most celebrated holidays in Sweden, and full of traditions.

Early morning of Midsummer is usually spent picking wild flowers out in the fields which then is used to make flower crowns and decorate the Midsummer pole.

The Midsummer pole is raised for the occasion, and danced around by everyone in the family.

 

Followed by a beautiful lunch of newly harvested potatoes, pickled herring, often salmon and fresh seafood, dill and chives grown in the garden, and the classic Swedish strawberry cake.

 An old Swedish tradition we did as young girls, was to pick 7 different kinds of flowers, from 7 different fields the night before the midsummer celebrations, and put them under our pillows. According to an old legend, your future love would appear in your dreams, but only if the flowers were picked under complete silence.. 

Having arrived straight from rainy, windy Sydney we opted for a quiet Midsummer with a small family lunch, and spent the evening out on the lake with close friends. 

With the sun setting past 10.30 pm in the evening, and the degrees reaching above 30, it truly was a magical Midsummer reconnecting with beautiful friends, family, and Swedish Midsummer traditions. 

Swedish Strawberry Cake 

Mum's recipe : 

Put the oven on 180 C

6 eggs

3 dl / 1,3 cups sugar

 Whisk for about 10 min with an electrical whisk. 

In a seperate bowl, mix together : 

1,5 dl / 0,6 cups flour 

1,5 dl / 0,6 cups potato flour

2 tsp baking powder

Then sift the dry ingredients into the batter, combine carefully by turning the batter with a spatula. 

Pour into a crumbed cake tin. 

Bake in the oven for 35 min (or until golden brown)

Wait until the cake has cooled, then use a sharp knife to cut 1 - 2  layers. 

First layer : Spread with strawberry jam 

Second layer : Vanilla cream or custard 

Top with whipped cream & fresh strawberries. 

Et Voila'

Enjoy !