The Swedish North Star, continuously published since 1872. Volume 146 No. 4, March 15, 2018. Price per copy $3.50.
swedes and citrus in the sunshine state When Swede Johan Anders Boström immigrated to Florida from the Swedish island of Gotland in 1865, the land on the state’s Atlantic coast was still mainly wilderness. Boström arrived at the end of the Civil War, during which time the trees had gone from being a resource for a booming ship building business to becoming a source of industry as landowners sold their property to pioneer settlers but kept the timber rights. Some of those trees bore citrus fruit; orange trees had been planted in the northeast part of the state by the earliest settlers in the mid-1500s. When Boström arrived, he recognized the potential for cultivating oranges as a business, realizing their commercial potential early on. In the process, he and his brother founded a company that would boom into what is known today as the modern citrus industry. / Page 12
A Swedish Easter
The significance of Bergman
The average Swede celebrates Easter with the family, eats four eggs, gives away and eats Easter candy and decorates with Easter twigs. According to a survey in Sweden, the most important and most common dish on the Swedes’ Easter table is eggs. No surprises there since over 2,000 tons of eggs are consumed in Sweden during Easter week. More than half the people surveyed said eggs were most important on the Easter table, followed by herring (16%), salmon (7%) and Jansson’s temptation (6%). Only 6% eat lamb for Easter. More Easter traditions and a few recipes. /Page 10
Actress Liv Ullmann was in California in early February, kicking off the centennial celebrations honoring Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Nordstjernan contributor Ted Olsson had the privilege to interview Ullmann, who remarked on how wonderful it is that Bergman is now recognized worldwide for his creativity as producer, director and author. She said the filmmaker never believed in heaven, but she hoped that somewhere he can marvel in the respect and recognition afforded him during this year of his centennial, The Year of Bergman. / Page 16 Swedish suffragettes travel cross country and make history worth remembering / p7 Vasaloppet isn’t just a phenomenon in Sweden anymore / 18 As promised, here’s a recipe to make the bread that sounds like its name: knäckebröd / p22 Ikea, increasingly committed to innovation, has a joint project with H&M: From tree to textile” /p23