Kåldolmar

Kåldolmar are Swedish cabbage rolls filled with pork and rice. They are usually eaten with boiled potatoes, brown sauce, and lingonberry jam.

The dish is a Swedish variety of the dolma, common in Eastern Mediterranean countries. After losing the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Charles XII of Sweden fled to the city of Bender, in Moldavia, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. There he spent two years in exile, trying to convince the Ottoman Empire to help him defeat the Russians. Charles returned to Sweden and he was followed by some of his Ottoman creditors whom he had borrowed money from to finance his wars. The Ottoman creditors lived in Stockholm between 1716 and 1732, and during this time it is most likely that the dolma was introduced in Sweden.

It is first mentioned in a famous Swedish cookbook written by Cajsa Warg, in 1755. At that time it was still made from grape leaves but they were later replaced by cabbage leaves, being more readily available in Sweden.

References

• Wretman, Tore: Svensk husmanskost (Forum 1967) ISBN 9137082744