Östermalma castle and wildlife enclosure

Östermalma slott (castle) in Sörmland; an oasis of Swedish countryside calm and beauty. We are on day 3 of the CAS gastronomic adventures programme. My elasticated pants are in the suitcase and today, we are hitting Sörmland with gusto. Or perhaps gastro. There were rather many cocktails tasted last night at Marie Leveau, Bar Rouge, the Gold Bar at Nobis, and a quick dash to 1900. (More to come on this).

The sun is shining. We hop on a bus and one country hour later we are parked amidst the glory of Östermalma castle and hunting grounds.We hop off the bus with a spring in our step.  The joys of a sunny Swedish autumn morning are in the air.  And our first view is when the slaughterhouse doors are swung back to reveal hanging deer in various stages of butchery, skin still on. Luckily, this was before the coffee breakand wild boar mid-morning smörgås (sandwich).

The odd looking mushroom

We pick up a windfall of apples as we stroll through the fields to see some elk in the flesh. Then I find an odd looking mushroom. A train of horses rolls by. We sit outdoors by a blazing BBQ fire and hunter and Swedish TV4 chef, Anders Levén, cooks us up some elk burgers, wild boar, with sides of lingonberry ketchup and chantarelle cream sauce and a quite simply gorgeous ‘snowball’ turnip soup.

Anders with Ami Hovstadius and a whole bunch of burgers

Off to Blacksta Winery with us then.  We bus by forest, lakes and fields with copper red wooden houses dotted about the place with apple-laden trees on their front lawns. On this endearing tradition and the importance of safeguarding Swedish heritage apple species in general, our tour guide comments — verbatim: “Some apples die out. They are ready to be extinguished”.

Blaxta award winning ice wine

Blaxta winery was a revelation in terms. The world’s most northerly winery producing the world’s best ice wines. After a most informative and entertaining tour with owner and wine maker Göran Amnegård. Then we tasted it. I had an Oh-My-God moment. This knocks that trip to Tokaj off my pole position. But more on Blaxta later. It’s off for a spot of cray fishing now.

Over and out.