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Lack of lingonberries dashes Swedish hopes

TT/The Local/sr
TT/The Local/sr - [email protected]
Lack of lingonberries dashes Swedish hopes
The most Swedish of fruits, lingonberries. Photo: Leif R Jansson/TT

This year's berry forecast bodes badly for Swedes longing for meatballs and lingonberries - or blueberry pie, for that matter. This season's berry crops are only half of the normal harvest.

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A forecast from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, SLU) on Wednesday revealed that the berry-loving Swedes are in for some trouble this season. 

There's a shortage of both lingonberries and blueberries, two flavourful favourites. 

The berry bounty is only half of what it is in a "normal" year, SLU said, and in some areas the berry situation is even bleaker.

In the region of Svealand the lingonberry yield has dropped by 80 percent compared with the annual average. That's a lingonberry low since SLU began measuring crops in 2003.

"It's hard to say what the cause is, but the dry weather can definitely play a role," Ola Langval at SLU told news agency TT. 

Lingonberries, a staple of the Swedish diet, may become a luxury this autumn as supply is stunted and the berries climb in price.

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