Food Heritage Interview
Joyce: Margot Storlie was born in Norway, Hallingdal Valley, Norway, in 1861. She acquired the recipe for cardamom bread from her Norwegian ancestors and when she came to the United States in 1892 at the age of 25, she settled in Rosby, MN and she lived on a farm and she made all the Christmas treats, cardamom bread was one, sand bakkels, rosettes, lefse and that was the recipes she made for Christmas with the lutefisk and lefse dinner. She always made the cardamom bread which was kind of a very challenging recipe because you had to take the cardamom seeds and roast them in the oven and then you had to grind them so you could use the cardamom for the cardamom bread. So she only really made it like for Thanksgiving and for Christmas and it was kind of a delicacy to the family.
Jordyn: So would you say cardamom bread is a popular Norwegian bakery item?
Joyce: I would say it is, around the holidays mostly. Around Thanksgiving and around Christmas.
Jordyn: So how did cardamom bread become a tradition in our family?
Joyce: Well, Grandma Margot Storlie passed it down to Alta Mae Storlie, and Alta Mae made it for the family for the holidays, and her daughter, Sandy Storlie, made the cardamom bread around the holidays and they entered it into a teen, she was 16, and they entered it into a teen baking contest in like 1960. And they won first prize, and she received for the first prize a trip to Indianapolis, Samsonite luggage, and a scholarship for $2,500 that she used to go to the Minneapolis business school, and she won first prize on that.
Jordyn: Who usually prepared the bread?
Joyce: The mothers of the household prepared the bread, and prepared the lefse and lutefisk and all the other Norwegian delicacies at Christmas.
Jordyn: How often was it served? So it sounds like just at special events and stuff?
Joyce: Probably just for Thanksgiving, during the holidays, so Thanksgiving and for sure at Christmas.
Jordyn: Would you say it was prepared for any birthdays or anything?
Joyce: No, it was just for the holidays.
Jordyn: Was it ever served at any church events or heritage events?
Joyce: I would say it was probably served at the lutefisk suppers that the churches have, the Lutheran churches around the area. If somebody had a lot of time and ambition they would make the bread and serve it at the church dinners.
Jordyn: What’s the most challenging ingredient to find or to work with in this recipe?
Joyce: The most challenging ingredient is the cardamom.
Jordyn: Why?
Joyce: It’s very expensive, and the seeds have to be, they’re green when you buy them and you have to roast them brown and then, in the olden days they use to just take a rolling pin and smash them between to pieces of wax paper. But when I make it I found that if you use the coffee grinder, you can roast the seeds and grind them in the coffee grinder and it makes a very good consistency to put into the cardamom bread.
Jordyn: Have any ingredients changed over the years?
Joyce: No. All the ingredients are the same.
Jordyn: Do you think cardamom bread has become more or less popular over the years?
Joyce: Less popular. Because it takes a lot of time to make it. Maybe 20 minutes to mix it and then you have to let it raise until it’s doubled and then you have to knead it in the pans and you have to let it raise again. Then you have to bake it for probably 50 minutes and then you have to cool it. You can also put on it a glaze of powder sugar and butter and cream. But most people like it plain with butter. A lot of butter.
Jordyn: What’s your favorite memory of making this dish?
Joyce: Well, a good memory or a bad memory?
Jordyn: Well it’s your favorite memory, so probably a good one.
Joyce: Well, one time I made and it didn’t rise. So I was going to throw it out, but my husband said, “I like it like that.” And he ate it.
Jordyn: Do you have any other information about cardamom bread in Norwegian culture or in our family?
Joyce: Well, I really like it I think it’s kind of a good texture bread and it’s not very sweet and it’s very, I like the taste of cardamom myself. Some people probably don’t like that taste and I like it when you put fruit in it. The fruit like for a fruit cake. The original fruit was like candied cherries and the red cherries and the green cherries. Then they put a glaze over the top of powdered sugar.
Jordyn: What was it usually served with?
Joyce: It’s usually served with the meal of lutefisk and lefse and mashed potatoes with butter on and cranberries and salad with apples and bananas and mayonnaise and a little bit of sugar and, served with the main meal.
Jordyn: so with the main meal. It’s not a dessert bread?
Joyce: No. It’s not a dessert bread. It’s served with the main meal.