Give the Swedes a chance | Otago Daily Times Online News
Knowing this, Jeremy is disappointed when he sees them stacked up at the supermarket, well over his prime.
“They do not move enough so they sit there and look a little shrunken. You hit your head on the wall and say ‘why the hell does it look like that?’ Because you can buy them fresh every day,” he said.
Swedes, who are high in essential minerals and contain vitamin A and vitamin C, currently sell in New Zealand for about 5 or 6 dollars per kilo, or 3 dollars each.
Just before Christmas each year, Mott’s Premium Produce – Jeremy’s family business – plants 15 hectares of them to be harvested between March and October.
Once the “kind” Swedes are hand-picked in the pastures – they “no bigger than what you can fit in two hands with your fingers touching” – he says that the cattle and ewes are more than happy to finish what is left.
“They run and jump … they are like clubs for the cattle.”
Swedes, who thrive in the frosty temperatures in Manawatū-Whanganui and Southland, are known for their sweetness, which you can even smell in the pastures, says Jeremy.
His family likes to use them as a sweeter alternative to potatoes in a swedish bake or swede rosti and to “sweeten up” potato dishes.
The humble Swede also does a good job of “filling in” pots, says Jeremy, because they add a little sweetness and also easily take on other flavors.
When you buy fresh sweets, firm skin is what you are looking for, he says.
Once you get them home, they should stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks even though they have become “a little wrinkled”.