Swedes love Saffron – and we love Swedish Cuisine!

Saffron is mainly cultivated in Afghanistan, Kashmir, central Europe and Iran (where MIASA Saffron originates), but like cinnamon and cardamom, you could actually also call it a Swedish spice. Swedes simply love saffron and use it more often in their food preparation than any other European nation.

We love the Swedish cuisine, because it’s so simple and straight-forward. Their typical culinary offerings are based on rural home cooking with lots of fish and meat dishes and local ingredients like berries and mushrooms. However, the Swedish cuisine also offers a multitude of delicious baked goods and sweet desserts – especially at Christmas time!

One of the most popular and best loved Swedish bakery product is the typical yeast bun Lussekatter (also Lussering), a traditional saffron pastry conjured from the oven, especially at Christmas time. This classic is typically prepared with a yeast dough plus saffron and raisins, mostly baked from St. Lucia’s Day (13th December) onwards, and enjoyed over the entire Christmas season. We have a delicious recipe for this traditional delicacy here (link)

Other popular Swedish saffron dishes (or perhaps we could call them dishy Swedish saffron !) are saffron bread, fish dishes such as pickled coffee salmon with fine saffron sauce or the simple dish with the (for us at least) complicated name “Saffranspannkaka“. This tongue twister is a true culinary delight: a rich milk-cream-rice based on a recipe from the Swedish island Gotland. Simply divine!

In Swedish cuisine, saffron is a superstar and can really show off its varied qualities impressively. The crocus plant – which only blooms for two weeks in autumn – and its dried threads that are used as the spice, not only add an unique flavour to sweet and savoury dishes, but also an amazing colour, all natural.

Ingredients for dough

300g flour
1 pack dried yeast
50g sugar
pinch of salt
50g butter at room temperature
130ml lukewarm milk

Ingredients for filling

20-30g butter
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

Method

Dough

First mix flour with dried yeast, sugar and salt.
Add the soft butter and lukewarm milk and knead to form an even dough. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Roll out on a floured surface into a square shape. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.

Filling

Preheat the oven to 175°.
For the filling, melt butter. Add sugar, cinnamon and the grated saffron and generously brush the dough with it.
Cut dough into 3cm slices and roll into snails. Butter and flour the spring-clip tin and place rolls onto it. Bake saffron cinnamon rolls on middle rack for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Tip: Before I put them in the oven, I spread some more saffron threads and leftover cinnamon-sugar mix on to the roll so they caramelize.

We prefer eating them fresh out of the oven, dusted with icing sugar and preferably served with vanilla ice cream.

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