Katherine Hjort

 

My great-grandmother, Katherine Hjort, was born in Sweden in 1848. In 1870, as a young mother, she made the long, difficult journey to the woods of northern Wisconsin, to live in the Swedish community of Prentice. Living in the log cabin that her husband built out the trees that he felled on their homestead, she was one of the early pioneers in this part of the country.

 

My mother tells the story of her grandmother's early years in the Wisconsin woods, when there were still native Americans living nearby. They would come around when she baked her rye bread, attracted by the delicious aroma. So, she would give them each a loaf of bread, and each time she baked bread, they would come back for more!

 

Katherine was a very strong woman in many ways. Besides taking care of her growing family, she became the midwife of their little community. She was healthy and active until shortly before her death at age 92, and, at her funeral, each of her pallbearers were young men that she had delivered as babies!

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My grandfather, Carl Hjort, was born in Prentice in 1880. A clock maker, as well as a violin player in a quartet, he also lived a long, healthy life, until he passed away at 89 years old.

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This website and bakery is dedicated to the memory of my Great-Grandmother Katherine Hjort. I have been very inspired, not only by her very nutritious sourdough rye bread, but also by the other nourishing foods that she would have eaten with the bread, which I have referred to on this website. These foods go a long way to strengthen and satisfy, and would have been in her obviously very healthy diet!

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People with Northern European ancestry have a gold mine of hearty ancestral foods that will keep them happy and strong, as they did my great-grandmother and grandfather, as well as my mother, Esther, still going strong at age 89! Many traditional recipes have been lovingly created by countless great-grandmothers over the centuries, and they are our heritage. I present only a few of the hundreds of recipes of Northern European dishes here, but these recipes are available in cookbooks and websites that focus on Nordic cuisine. I urge anyone with Northern European ancestry to take the plunge, try real sourdough rye bread and the Northern European dishes that go with it, and see how good it makes you feel!

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With all my best wishes for healthy and happy eating,

Joan Katherine Tendler

 

 

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