Swedish News:

Nobody buys Orrefors. Royal couple criticized for scarves. 'All neighbors are Swedish' Swedish crime sells. Hail to the veggies. Gene manipulated yoghurt. 

  • The top ten most nutritious vegetables according to Swedish Livsmedelsverket (the National Food Agency): 1. Green leaves such as spinach, Swiss chard, and nettles 2. Green beans 3. Broccoli 4. Green peas and sugar peas 5. Avocado 6. White beans 7. Leek 8. Cauliflower 9. Lentils 10. Chickpeas. Above Popeye who of course gets his strength from spinach.

  • Nobody buys Orrefors
    It is now clear that the Orrefors glassworks will close for good. The owner, New Wave Group, had previously said they’d negotiated with several potential buyers of the glassworks, which closed on July 12, but there will be no selling or buying of Orrefors, according to a report from SVT’s Smålandsnytt. ”It is definite, in terms of the glass production,” says Magnus Andersson, CEO of Orrefors Kosta Boda, to TT. The historic glassworks was founded in 1898, and production of the famous crystal and art glass began in 1914.

  • Camilla Läckberg, a crime writer, is the highest paid author in Sweden. Last year she made 20.9 million SEK ($3.2 million). Photo: Paracel63

  • Royal couple criticized for scarves
    The Swedish king and queen came under fire after a visit to Harnosand. The couple received Palestinian scarves as gifts, and posed in them. On the scarves was an Arabic text with a message that might mean ”Our Aqsa and not their temple”, according to Sundsvalls Tidning. The text refers to the al-Aqsa mosque located on the Temple Mount on Jerusalem. Lisa Abramowicz from the organization Svensk Israelinformation (Swedish Israel Information Center) believes that the message is unacceptable for the royal couple.

  • Possibly the most well-known of the traditional Swedish glassworks, Orrefors in the village of Orrefors in Småland. Photo: Bo Zaunders

  • 'All neighbors are Swedish'
    All neighbors are of Swedish lineage.. that's how apartments on Svensk Fastighetsformedling (a Swedish real estate broker chain) were marketed. Now the housing giant is apologizing. ”(The text) originates from the seller’s written description and goes against our rules completely,” says Bessie Wedholm, director of external communications at Svensk Fastighetsförmedling. The housing company apologized on their Facebook page, but the ad with the offensive text was up for hours before it was taken down and changed. When asked what kind of rules Svensk Fastighetsförmedling has for the wording of their ads, Wedholm answered: ”It is a rule to read through the texts, but as I said this was a mistake and it won’t be repeated.”

  • Orrefors glassworks will close. Above a crystal bowl by Orrefors. Photo: Holger.Ellgaard

  • Swedish crime sells
    Who tops the payroll list among Swedish writers? Topping the list for 2012, just like in 2011, is crime writer Camilla Läckberg. Her company Camlac AB made 20.9 million SEK ($3.2 million) during 2012. Don't miss our earlier video interview with Läckberg, who visited New York last year: Camilla Läckberg at the Greenwich Avenue store Partners & Crime in New York)
    Following Läckberg is Henning Mankell (of Inspector Wallander fame), who made little over half as much as Läckberg, 11.8 million SEK ($1.8 million), according to Svenska Daglbladet. On third spot is Jan Guillou (5.5 million SEK or $846,000), then Jonas Gardell (5.2 million SEK or $800,000), Mari Jungstedt (4.5 million SEK or $692,000), Johan Theorin (4 million SEK or $615,000), Per Moberg (2.8 million SEK or $430,000), Leif G W Persson (1.6 million SEK or $246,000), Håkan Nesser (1.4 million SEK or $215,000), and John Ajvide Lindqvist (1.4 million SEK or $215,000). The list is based on Swedish authors whose companies are registered at Bolagsverket. There might therefore be others who make more, but who are not included on the list.

  • Saffron, long among the world’s most costly spices by weight. It is derived from the flower of “crocus sativus”, or saffron crocus, and in order to produce a kilo of saffron, you’ll have to have 70 000 flowers. This year good weather has led to great harvests and the price on saffron is lower than usual, which is good news for all Lucia bun-bakers!

  • Hail to the veggies
    Spinach and other green leaves top the list of the healthiest vegetables, according to a new analysis from Livsmedelsverket (the National Food Agency). The beloved chanterelle is surprisingly nutritious as well. Less of a surprise is that green beans and broccoli get high scores in the analysis of 40 of the most popular vegetables and root vegetables in Sweden. “It only confirms old information,” says nutritionist Veronica Öhrvik. But what about that chanterelle (or “kantarell” as Swedes call it)? “It contains two to three times as much vitamin D as salmon per 100 gram,” Öhrvik explains. The good stuff that made it to this list did so by virtue of the fibers, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants they contain. “All vegetables are nutritious,” says Öhrvik. “But to vary what you consume is more important than to just eat the most nutritious items.” According to Livsmedelsverket you should avoid feeding babies under a year leafy vegetables like ruccola and spinach. But when it comes to grown-ups there are no such restrictions. Eight out of ten Swedes don’t consume enough veggies, but all you need to do is to eat a simple salad and you’ll get more vitamins and minerals. And a simple salad with tomato and cucumber becomes even healthier if you add sugar peas, baby spinach and lentils, according to Livsmedelsverket.

  • The Swedish king and queen posed in Palestinian scarves, aka keffiyehs, and were criticized for it, as the scarfes carried messages in Arabic. Above Yasser Arafat in his trademark keffiyeh in 1974.

  • Gene manipulated yoghurt
    Creating healthier and cheaper yoghurt with a taste of saffron? That’s what one student-driven team of researchers from Uppsala University is busy doing right now. Soon they will compete with other European teams in Lyon, France in the iGEM competition. iGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine, and is a worldwide synthetic biology competition. The goal for the Uppsala team is to create a healthier yoghurt by adding gene manipulated bacteria. Says Hampus Elofsson, project leader: “Today we drink a lot of yoghurt and it’s very healthy because of the probiotic bacteria. But we thought we’d make them even healthier by gene modification. We’re adding healthy molecules.” The idea is to design bacteria that can smell and taste like saffron. The purpose is not to get this yoghurt out on the market, but to get as far as possible at iGEM in Lyon. “We are interested in creating a debate,” says Elofsson. “We want to show what can be done with GMO (genetically modified organisms.”
    For more on iGEM: http://www.igem.org/Main_Page