Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Reader photo of the week: The story of a 240-year-old mill in southern Sweden

Every week, The Local invites readers to submit their pictures to our photo competition, to bring our audience together from all parts of Sweden.

Published: 23 August 2024 07:04 CEST

Reader photo of the week: The story of a 240-year-old mill in southern Sweden

Photo: Mykola Kulish

This week’s winning picture, above, was snapped by Mykola Kulish from Ukraine at Häljarp’s mill in Skåne, southern Sweden.

“I had summer vacation a few weeks ago and dedicated some of my free time to go there as I saw Häljarp’s mill many times passing it on the train,” Mykola writes. “One day when there were nice white clouds in the blue sky I could not resist the chance to take some photos.”

The mill was built in 1784 by captain Samuel Rudolf von Quillfeldt, who owned a farm in Häljarp. Thanks to the support of local farmers, he managed to get his application for planning permission granted in the court, despite protests from other mill owners.

In the Skåne and Blekinge regions, the word for a mill is mölla (from the German mühle). In standard Swedish, it’s kvarn.

READ ALSO:

17 dialect words you’ll need to know to survive in southern Sweden

Would you like to be featured in The Local’s photo of the week series?

You can submit your entries via email at news@thelocal.se with the subject “Photo of the week”, or by submitting your photo to X using the hashtag #TheLocalSwedenPOTW – or look out for our Facebook post every week on The Local Sweden where you can submit your photo.

Please tell us your name so we can credit you as the photographer, and tell us a little bit about the photo and where it was taken.

By submitting a photo, you’re giving us permission to republish it on The Local’s website, our social media and newsletters.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Why were guests at Sven-Göran Eriksson's funeral served porridge and 'molusk'?

Sven-Göran Eriksson, one of Sweden’s most famous football icons, passed away at the end of August, just a few months after he went public with the news that he had terminal pancreatic cancer in January this year.

His funeral was scheduled for 10am on Friday in his hometown, Torsby, in Värmland. Many aspects of the funeral were planned by Eriksson himself, who was famously proud of his roots in Värmland and much-loved in Torsby for his down-to-earth, friendly nature.

Eriksson requested that the funeral be open to the public, so the 600-seater church was expected to be packed with a mix of small-town locals alongside his star-studded guestlist, including former England captain David Beckham and fellow England manager Roy Hodgson.

As the number of people interested in attending far exceeded space in the church, the local town set up a big screen outside where onlookers wishing to pay their respects would be able follow the funeral live.

“I think there will be as many people outside as inside the church,” Christopher Janson from Torsby’s funeral parlor told local newspaper NWT. “He was so folklig [down to earth], remembered people and checked up on his old school classmates. He was definitely a popular figure in town.”

After the ceremony, there was set to be a procession accompanied by Torsby’s local brass band – again, Eriksson’s own request, inspired by the funeral of Italian team Sampdoria’s former president, which Eriksson attended in 1993.

The procession was due to end at Kollsbergs hembygdsgård, where guests were to be treated to local specialties motti and molusk.

But what exactly does that entail?

Luckily for the guests, the molusk has no relation to slimy invertebrates, rather it’s a cake made to the same recipe as a chocolate ball (chokladboll in Swedish) – oats, cocoa powder, butter and sugar – rolled into a log and dipped in chocolate.

Molusk cakes from Wienerkonditoriet in Torsby. Photo: Wienerkonditoriet

“It was Svennis’ request to have molusks and I think it’s because the molusk is a well-known cake from Torsby which has been baked here since the 1950s,” Lisa Nordqvist, from Wienerkonditoriet in Torsby, who supplied the cakes for the funeral reception, told The Local.

“We make the original and everyone who comes from Torsby has heard of it. A lot of people who have visited or have connections to Torsby speak highly of it,” she continued.

Motti, on the other hand, has its roots in Finland, and was brought by Finns to Värmland in the 1600s. It’s a type of porridge made from a special kind of flour called skrädmjöl, which is made from toasted oats.

It’s considered to be Värmland’s national dish, and is made by dumping the flour on top of some sort of liquid, either water or stock, and letting it steam for around ten minutes.

This results in a lumpy, relatively dry porridge which was traditionally eaten with the hands – another word for it is nävgröt, “fist porridge”.

It’s usually served with lingonberry jam and fried fläsk, which is similar to bacon, but slightly thicker, where the lumps of porridge are dipped into the jam and bacon fat.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!