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8 Surprising differences between Norway and Sweden

 

Norway and Sweden are both countries in Scandinavia. But which are the differences between the countries? Both countries have their typical traits and beauty. And beauty is also in the differences, right?

 

Photo by Eline Van Breda

1. Costs of living

The restaurant and grocery prices are respectively 35,13% and 34,87% higher in Norway than in Sweden.

Off course the prices of meals in restaurants vary according to the places you visit in both Norway and Sweden. Do you go to the restaurant next to a museum in the middle of the city? Or do you stop at a small town with a local restaurant? The price depends highly on that. This is the same for supermarkets. They tend to be a bit more expensive in touristy places. This is something you can easily look out for, and so avoid or gain extra budget in already expensive countries.

Is the salary then also higher in Norway compared to Sweden? Yes, that is correct! But not so much that it makes up for the high price differences for every day goods and services. So, the purchasing power in Sweden is about 10% higher in Sweden compared to Norway.

The average rent prices in Norway are 32,59% higher compared to Sweden. This is a lot! Therefore you see a lot of people living in Sweden going to work in Norway. That way they gain on 2 sides, they pay less rent and earn more money. Win-win situation for them right!

2. The right of public access

In Sweden everyone has the Right of Public Access (Allemansrätten). You can walk around freely, camp, pick berries and mushrooms wherever you go, even on privately owned land. It is however expected of everyone to treat animals, plants and property with respect. It can be summed up as: ‘don’t disturb, don’t destroy.’ This right can be found in the Swedish constitution. It is accepted cultural heritage, so a true Swedish custom. The roots for this custom can be found in provincial laws dating from as far as the Middle Ages!

Norway also has almost the same great right. Here it is called ‘Allemannsretten’. You can also walk around freely. There are however a few concrete obligations. You have to show respect for nature and pick up the rubbish you leave behind. Furthermore you can only camp for 1 night wherever you want. If you want to stay longer on one spot then you have to request the permission of the landowner to camp there, except when camping very remotely or on a mountain. Another important difference with the Swedish right is that you have to keep a distance of 150 meter to the nearest inhabited house cabin, camping car or caravan. Also this right is cultural heritage.

 

Photo by Eline Van Breda

There are a few more rules that apply to the right to roam freely in Norway than there are in Sweden but the idea in both countries is the same, and it’s amazing! For people that have not grown up with the right of public access it can be quite liberating. I have experienced it myself. Luckily you have the right in both Sweden and Norway. I can highly recommend you to go for a hike in the forest in the middle or northern part of one of both countries and just walk. And keep walking. The things you see, the places you come across. It is very liberating. Just don’t forget a map or a compass to make sure you find the right way back!

 

Photo by Eline Van Breda

3. The land and nature

It might not seem like there is a big difference between the 2 Scandinavian countries whereas to the land, use and its outlook, but there are a few big differences!

In Norway only 2,7% of the land can be used for agriculture. 27,8% is forest. What is the rest, I can hear you say? It is used for other purposes or not used at all. It is used for cities, roads or it’s just a barren mountainous area. The Swedish land offers a bit more opportunities for agriculture with its percentage of land use of 7,5%. Needless to say that both countries have to import a lot of food from other countries. In Sweden the foresting industry is almost 3 times as large as in Norway with 68,7% of the land that is taken up by trees.

Another big difference is a nature phenomenon where Norway is very known for. Its fjords! The best way to see a lot, very big and beautiful fjords is to go to Norway. There a barely fjords in Sweden. Only in the area of Gothenburg in the west and Stockholm in the east you can find some fjords.

Norway however has enormous amounts of large and beautiful fjords. The fjords were created a very long time ago by a succession of ice ages. Like for example the Sognefjord. This is the longest fjord in Norway with a length of 204 kilometers! At some places in the fjord you can find very deep spots up to more than 1300 meters deep. The mountains around it are as high as the fjord is deep so give a very spectacular view. A few fjords are also incorporated in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The region around the fjord is known for its fertile valleys. You can find crops and fruit growing there.

 

Photo by Eline Van Breda

In and around those fjords you can also see the most spectacular wildlife ranging from seals and whales to eagles. Having waterfalls virtually everywhere you go is very spectacular and so typical to this beautiful fjord region!

 

Photo by Eline Van Breda

Going for a walk is not so easy around the fjords. The area is extremely steep! So be warned, it’s beautiful, but it might cost you some sweat!

4. Stave churches

Norway is known for another thing. Their stave churches. Sweden only has 1 of them. The rest, 28 to be exact, can be found in Norway. In Norway you can also find the Heddal stave church, in Notodden. This is the largest stave church.

 

Photo by L.C. Nøttaasen/CC BY 2.0

So what is a stave church exactly? A stave church is a medieval church. Once this type of churches were very common in the North-Western part of Europe. The name stave comes from the structure of the building. Large posts that bear the largest load in the church were called ‘stafr’ in the old Norse. Norse is the language spoken in Scandinavia between the 9th and the 13th century. And so the name stave church came into existence.

Back in the days this type of churches were far more widespread. It is thought that about 2000 of this type of stave churches were built. Unfortunately not so many survived. The ones that did survive are mainly found in Norway. The remaining stave churches were all built in Norway in the period between 1150 and 1350, mostly in less populated areas like valleys, fisherman villages and small villages along the fjords.

The oldest written laws in Norway are very clear about the consecration of the church. It was valid for as long as the 4 corner posts were standing. If a church broke down and a corner post fell, there had to be brought wood and timber to the site during 12 months as a punishment. Afterwards the church needed to be rebuilt.

Over time there was a gradual replacement of this type of churches, and in the 19th century a lot of them were destroyed. Today only 28 remain in Norway. A real gem that you need to have seen when going to Norway, if you ask me!

5. State monopoly on alcohol

In both Sweden and Norway there is a state-owned monopoly on alcohol. You cannot walk in the supermarket and buy a bottle of champagne for you wife’s birthday. No, you must go to a special shop for that.

In Sweden the monopoly was created in 1850, for prevention of overconsumption of alcohol and to take out the profit motive of the alcohol beverage sale. In Norway the monopoly was introduced in 1919 following the Swedish example.

In Sweden those liquor stores owned by the state are called ‘Systembolaget’. Here you can find alcoholic beverages with more than 3,5% alcohol. There is no other shop in the country where you can buy beverages with more than 3,5% alcohol to take home, legally. You can find the ‘Systembolaget’ shops all around the country as there are about 400 stores. When you go to a restaurant however you can buy an alcoholic beverage to drink there.

 

Photo by Systembolaget

In Norway you have kind of the same system. Polet stands for ‘Vinmonopolet’, in English you can translate this to ‘The wine monopoly’. This is a state-owned retailer, and the only company that is allowed to sell alcoholic beverages above 4,75% in the country.

You can find low alcohol percentage drinks in supermarkets, but this is very limited. In Sweden you can find alcoholic beverages below 3,5% in the supermarkets, in Norway this percentage is a bit higher to below 4,75%. Another difference is the cost of alcohol. The price of alcoholic drinks in Norway in both restaurants and in the state-owned shops varies between 30% and 50%. So, drinking a lot of alcohol can be very expensive, for sure in Norway!

6. Whale hunting

A surprising thing, you probably didn’t know about, and that sets Norway apart from Sweden (and from almost the whole world for that matter), is that it allows whale hunting. It is one of the 3 countries in the world where whales are still hunted commercially.

Norway has hunted whales for thousands of years, and up to day still hunts minke whale. A species of smaller whale that are not officially registered as endangered. To people in the whole world hunting whales is more and more a taboo. Norway has a tradition of hunting whales that dates back to the Stone Age. Those that defend the whaling industry say it is a tradition and quota protect the industry from being harmful to the eco system.

Whale meat in only a fraction of the Norwegian consumption. The animals are caught high in the north of Norway where there is only a very small human population. Most Norwegians live in the south. Getting the meat to the big population is an issue.

Most of the restaurants in the city don’t sell whale anymore as it makes them look bad. A lot of people find that selling whale is offensive.

However, it is more of a taboo in recent years, some young cooks love to experiment with it as they find it is like going back to their roots. Whales were hunted from the Stone Age on, so they see it as part of their culture.

During recent years there has been a steady decline in the number of whales that have been caught. This is believed to be due to the climate warming. Whales go higher north, above Norway to seek colder waters. This makes it harder to catch them.

In Sweden there is no whale hunting.

7. Trolls

Trolls are a big part of the Scandinavian folk tradition. They are known in Sweden but in Norway troll folk culture is something very big. This can be traced back to the Norse mythology, this is the old Scandinavian mythology.

Trolls are human-like creatures. They tend to be pictured as stupid, dangerous and sometimes evil. Thera are lake trolls, cave trolls, forest trolls, mountain trolls, you name it, it’s there! But why are the Norwegians so fascinated with them? For example, the only car that Norway produced in its history was named Troll. You can also find statues and places named after trolls.

 

 

How did this happen? In the 1800s the Norwegian ‘Grimm Brothers’, Asbjornsen and Moe gathered folk tales, wrote them down and passed them on to the next generations. These stories are still known by children today. Over time it has become part of the culture and its heritage.

Needless to say you can find all kinds of troll souvenirs in the Norwegian gift shops! You come across troll stories in the Swedish culture as well but a lot less and it has more and more faded away in the today’s life. In one of the things you can find a troll reference in Sweden is in the Swedish idiom ‘Tala om trollen’, which means ‘speak of the trolls’ in Swedish. What they really mean with the expression is ‘speak of the devil’. In Norway you can still find them in theater plays etc. today.

8. Little brother

They say that Norway always had a little brother complex from Sweden. Sweden got this ‘big brother’ title because they are the largest, most populated, and richest country in Scandinavia. Today this results in a lot of competition between Sweden and Norway for example in sport contests. They sometimes say: ‘as long as we beat the Swedes, it’s good’. Off course this is all brotherly and friendly banter.

Lately Norway has caught up and even surpassed Sweden. This has a lot to do with the oil that has been found in Norway. Nowadays Swedes go work in Norway because of the better pay. And as from all the points that I wrote about above, I most certainly not agree that Norway is the smaller brother of Sweden.

Norway and Sweden have a lot of similarities but don’t be fooled, there are noticeable differences! Both countries are beautiful on their own, with their specialties and peculiarities. Both are countries which you must have visited in your lifetime!

For other tips & tricks, be sure to check out our other articles about Scandinavia. Or looking for the perfect gift for that Scandinavia lover? Check out our local specialties!

Pure regards,

Eline

 

In Sweden, Finland and Norway there is the right to roam freely into the forest. Perfect to go searching for edible berries right?

1. Blueberry, also called ‘Blåbär’ in Swedish

Where can you find them? On a good year you can find blueberries everywhere in Sweden, Norway and Finland! So where to find wild blueberries? From the North to the South, everywhere. You absolutely don’t need a lot of technique to find them. Looking out for low growing bush, up to 40 cm will point you in most cases straight to the source of this juicy blue prize! They are very safe to eat as they cannot be confused with other berries. The blueberry plant has small dark green leaves that are ‘eye-shaped’. They tend to stand in big patches together.

Photo by Eline Van Breda

On a bad year as this year 2018 there are very few blueberries. The summer in Scandinavia has been very hot and very dry as in many other places this year. Blueberry plants need enough rain to be able to grow the blueberries. This makes it a bit harder to find them. The best thing is going look for them in coastal areas, higher in the north or around lakes and river areas.

When is the best time to pick wild blueberries? The berries are on its best when fully ripe, so don’t let them fool you with a blue-ish tint, then they are not ripe yet and will be quite sour! You can start picking the fully ripe ones starting from the mid of July until the start of September. Sometimes you can still find berries in September but then the taste goes a bit backwards. A good indication is the color of the leaves. When they are still green, they are on its best, don’t wait for the leaves to turn brown, red or orange when the early Scandinavian autumn kicks in.

Photo by Eline Van Breda

What are they good for? The blueberries are very healthy for you according to Medical Daily. The wild blueberries have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound, this can prevent the onset of diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer and even cancer.

Wild blueberries are better than the normal farmed ones. Wild blueberries contain a more powerful antioxidant called anthocyanin and therefore have an even greater positive influence on the human body than the farmed ones. The wild ones are also easier to freeze and keep their quality for much longer. Even more than 2 years in the freezer!

What can you make with these blue wonderberries, wild blueberries? You can eat them while picking, straight from the bush. They don’t come purer and more naturally! They are also wonderful in pies, jams, cakes, juices, with pancakes, you name it! It is a very versatile and sweet berry that can be used for a lot of purposes. And therefore, a lot of people in Norway, Sweden and Finland go look for them in the forest every year. It wouldn’t be an exception if someone came home with a big bucket with multiple kilos of berries. Picking berries is for sure a part of the Scandinavian culture!

There are some very handy berry pickers that get you kilos of berries together before you even know it!

2. Lingonberry, also called ‘lingon’ in Swedish

What are lingonberries? Lingonberries and blueberries belong to the same genus called Vaccinium vitis-idaea. So, it’s no surprise that the bush they grow on looks a lot like the blueberry one’s. Ligonberries are also distantly a relative from the cranberry. But what sets the lingonberry apart, and why is it so popular, especially in Sweden? The lingonberry is naturally a sour berry, only slightly sweet with soft flesh inside the berry. But it has a natural preservative inside which allowed people back in the days to store a bucket of lingonberries filled with water for a whole winter. You only had to make sure that they were kept below water in the bucket. Lingonberry has been used since a long time so naturally it became intertwined with contemporary culture and cuisine. Jup, real Swedes eat it with almost everything!

Where to find them? You can find wild lingonberries on low growing bushes, a lot alike the blueberry bushes, in woodlands and moorlands. They are also easy to find as they tend to grow in large numbers.

Photo by Eline Van Breda

When you find a lingonberry, best check if they are the real lingonberries. They have a look-alike! No worries, the look-alike is not bad for you, it’s an edible berry, but it’s the tasteless variant of the lingonberry. This is called ‘mjölon’ in Swedish because they don’t have any juice but a meal like inside. This look-alike is often a bit bigger than the standard lingonberry so keep your eyes open for possible look-alikes. You want to avoid picking them if you want to make juices etc.

When is the best time to pick wild lingonberries? You can find them starting from late July until September.

What are they good for? Lingonberries are just as the blueberries very healthy. They are even more healthy than their relatives as they contain an even higher number of antioxidants than blueberries and cranberries. They have antibacterial and antifungal power, are great to battle urinary tract infections, are great for your brain and many more. They also contain large amounts of vitamin A, B and C and necessary minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphor.

What to make with wild lingonberries? The lingonberry is almost even more popular in Scandinavia and in Sweden particularly. For sure the jam of lingonberries. It is used with all kinds of meats, like with the famous Swedish meatballs, the so called ‘Köttbullar’, this is also with lingonberries to the side. It is also served with deserts.

Photo by koket.se

The lingonberry jam with some added sugar is great as well. You don’t even need to cook it to get a great and tasty result! In the supermarkets you can find different types of lingonberry jams, raw stirred, boiled or diluted with other red fruits. The best is the one called ‘Rårörd lingonsylt’ this jam is stirred without any added products. This jam has a little zesty taste to it. This gives a nice contrast in a lot of dishes, and especially Swedes love that! It is therefore almost served with everything. Pancakes, muesli, salads, the famous Swedish meatballs, other meat dishes even with bacon and toast.

Of course, you can also squish the berries and make a juice, cocktails or use it in cakes and bread. You can even eat it with herring. This is the most used berry in Sweden and I recommend you taste it, fresh from the bush, but also with your meal!

3. Cloudberry, also called ‘hjortron’ in Swedish

What is a cloudberry? A cloudberry is an edible raspberry-like fruit, often called the ‘forest gold’ or ‘the king of all berries’ in Scandinavia. They are very wanted and therefore also expensive. They say there is nothing like a cloudberry, picked straight from the bush! The berry looks like an orange raspberry and is juicy.

Photo by Frida Hermansson

Where can you find them? Cloudberries prefer swampy areas in the arctic areas, so ranging from mid Norway, Sweden and Finland up to the arctic. They also grow in the mountains, plaints and in areas close to the sea. The plant grows low to the ground and the berry is positioned upright. So be sure to check it out when you see a little orange fruit low to the ground. It’s can be the cloudberry!

When is the best time to pick them? That is tricky, not every year cloudberries are produced by a plant. It also takes multiple years for a plant to grow its first berries, so you really have to be lucky! As for when you best go out and try to find them, that’s in August and September. The season for cloudberries is short and you might have to walk a lot before finding them, but they are worth the pain!

What is the cloudberry good for? A lot! Cloudberries are like every other wild Scandinavian berry great for your health. They are known to be immunity boosters due to the high amount of vitamin A and C within the berry. The vitamin C proves to be stimulating for the production of white blood cells and its antioxidant qualities. As there is an enormous amount of iron in the cloudberry, this gives a boost to your circulation as it is a key factor in your red blood cell production. Furthermore, there are minerals, omega 3 and omega 6 to be found in the berries. These help to reduce cholesterol levels.

What can you make with it? Cloudberries are considered to be precious so what better to make with it than a dessert for special occasions? In Norway there is the classic Christmas dessert with a whipped cream and cloudberry mix turned into a cone shaped waffle. Sure, another thing to try out for yourself!

There is cloudberry jam, cloudberry liqueur, ice cream, parfait, meringues, soufflés, pancetta and more! So, plenty of forms to taste the berry in, something for everyone. There is also cloudberry tea, this you can find in one of our gift packages.

4. Cranberry, also called ‘tranbär’ in Swedish

What is the cranberry? The cranberry is a red berry that has become more and more popular because of the ‘superfruit’ hype. And guess what? It grows in Middle- and Northern Scandinavia so you can just pick and taste the wild version of this great berry yourself. It is a lot more popular in America than it is in Europe, but I don’t understand why. It’s a great berry and it grows here! So, let me give you some more info about it: It’s a trailing evergreen plant with elliptic leave form that produces these berries. Taste is a bit less good than that one of its cousins, the lingonberry, but off course still edible! Most people don’t like them raw. Cranberries are sour, bitter and quite hard. They are picked and at home turned into cranberry delicacies.

Where can you go to harvest them? They mostly grow in wet, acid rich soils so swampy spots and pine forests are the places to be for finding the wild Scandinavian cranberry. It is often found close to the lingonberry as they are related and often choose the same standing spot in the forest. So, with some luck you can score both berries together, win-win!

Photo by John Duxbury/Swedish Food

What is the benefit of the cranberry? The cranberry definitely lives up to the title of being a ‘superfruit’ or a ‘superberry’ in this case. It plays a role in the prevention of urinary tract infections, especially when there is recurring infection. The proanthocyanidins is responsible for that. This is an antioxidant that is found in high levels in the cranberry. This helps to stop bacteria from adhering to the urinary tract walls, so preventing a new infection. It also helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and it can slow down tumor progression. Great isn’t it? And all that from a small berry, just a walk in the forests in Scandinavia away? I love it!

What to make with cranberries? As the cranberry is not so nice to eat straight from the bush, about 95% of the berries are processed before consumption. The juice is usually sweetened or mixed with other sweeter fruits to reduce the natural tartness, you can also find them in a dried form. So dried, in the form of jam, juice, sauce, smoothies, breakfast grains or use them for baking or making a great stuffing. In America for example it is used in the turkey stuffing on Thanksgiving. Just a side note, but did you know that on that day 20% of the total cranberry consumption in America takes place? Off course you can also use the super healthy berries in deserts, and many more, anyway, too much to write about it all.

5. Juniper berry, also called ‘enbär’ in Swedish

What is a juniper berry? Surprisingly a juniper berry is not a berry at all! I guess people just call it that because it kind of looks like a berry. It is actually a blue-black fleshy cone from a juniper plant, like you can see as well with for example conifers. So, a seed but not a berry. You will only find the ‘berries’ on female plants. Male plants will make brown cones which don’t look like fruit and they are not tasty. You will definitely see the difference! If you ever tasted gin than you know kind of what a juniper berry taste like. There is a slight pine flavor to it as well as a bit of pepper and fruit in the taste. The plant has pointy needles. Be careful when picking, it can give you a mean sting!

Photo by herbco.com

Where can you find juniper berries? You can find the juniper berry spread out throughout whole Scandinavia, up to the arctic. It is a tough plant that can withstand a lot of cold, therefore it also grows very slow. They like acid soils so they are found in and near pine tree forests. They grow spread out, not in large patches like the other Scandinavian berries often do, so it will be a bit harder and take some more time to gather a large number of berries.

When is the best time to go juniper berry picking? Harvesting too early in the year is not recommended as the flavor is not so good yet. Pick them just before the first frost in autumn, then they are at its best. This exact timing varies every year and from region to region. Mind that you best wear gloves and clothing that provides an overall cover because the juniper berry bushes have sharp and stinging needles all over.

What is juniper berry good for? The juniper berry has a very long medicinal history, dating back from before the ancient Greeks. Today you will find the berries used as in oils and supplements. They are great to help with a whole range of skin and hair problems like eczema, acne, psoriasis, hair loss, … It also helps to prevent the formation of cellulite. Some people also apply it directly to superficial skin wounds and use it for joint- and muscle pain.

What to do with juniper berries? In Scandinavia it is used by the locals in the kitchen to flavor meat dishes such as poultry and game but also in pork and cabbage dishes. It can be used fresh, crushed and dried.

Where most people worldwide know the flavor of the juniper berry from is from gin. It is the main flavor used in gin. So,the next time when you drink a gin, remember, it all started with a spikey plant with its wild berries that are no berries. Tjing!

 Photo by Garnishblog.com

As you could read, these 5 wild Scandinavian berries are great for your health. So why doesn’t everyone know about these berries? There is so much potential in them! I hope with this article I can bring them more into the light. If it were up to me, they would get a place in the spotlight, they all live up to it.

It can also be a great adventure to search for wild berries, score your buckets full and prepare some jams and juices with it, also for kids. So be sure to do that whenever you visit Norway, Sweden or Finland for a while. It’s absolutely worth it, for your body but also your mind. Have some nature therapy and explore the Scandinavian forests!

If you don’t have the opportunity to do it yourself, or it’s not the season anymore for the berries that you like, then you can always check out our products. 

There you can find typical Swedish juices, jams, teas and more from locally 100% natural and handmade wild berries from the North of Sweden. That’s almost like doing it yourself but then easier right?

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