Finnish glögi rarely has citrus peel as a flavor component like its Central European cousins, but cinnamon, cardamom and cloves are essential. I added a few spices that aren’t all that traditional – dried mint, pink peppercorns, and star aniseed – just because I personally love them, and they did add a certain freshness to the flavor. I also cut down on the amount of cloves, since often there’s a whole tablespoonful of them in a similar recipe, and I think their taste can get wildly overpowering. I would use the recipe below as a starting point and tweak it to your own tastes.

The kind of juice that is used as a base also has an important role – we use a red currant juice concentrate that Heikki’s mother has made from her own berries, and it lends quite an authentic color and flavor to the drink. Grape juice or even lingonberry or cranberry would surely be worth trying out. This spice infusion would probably be lovely added to some warmed up apple juice, or black currant juice for the sneezy days, and I can see it spicing up my cup of tea even. Finns often add some almonds and raisins in their glögi mug, but I prefer mine without.

This is what I used:

• 5 slices of fresh ginger
• 4 cloves
• 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (or 1 stick)
• 2 teaspoons pink peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 star aniseed
• a pinch of allspice
• 3 dl water

I placed all the above in a small cooking pot, brought to a brisk boil, and lowered the heat so that the mixture was barely bubbling. Now I covered the pan and let the spice mixture simmer for half an hour, and then sieved it through a cheese cloth into a small jug.

To make a cup of glögi, I use about 3 tablespoons of the spice infusion, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of red currant juice Heikki’s mom has made, and 1 and 1/2 dl of hot water. It all depends on how sugary the juice is. This recipe yields about 2 dl of the spicy mixture, which I would say is enough for about five glögi portions. I store what’s left over in a small bottle in the fridge. An alcoholic version could be made with half red wine and half fruit juice, or by adding a little bit of vodka (or another spirit of choice) in the glögi mug.

There’s great regional variation in Finnish rye breads, and big emotions are involved when people start to explain why the baking should be done in a certain way. No one in my family used to bake rye bread, so this recipe is a combination of many I found online and in cookbooks – mainly one great little book called Suomen maakuntaleivät (Finnish Regional Breads) by a Finnish celebrity cook from the eighties, Jaakko Kolmonen. I checked it out form the library, but he also now has his own website, where you can buy copies of all his cookbooks that are still in print. The banner picture with him smiling and hugging a cute little piglet does creep me out a little bit, but his bread book is quite amazing – it’s filled with a variety of regional recipes, and the author has travelled around the country, interviewing and observing bakers in their own homes.

The Rye Sourdough Starter:

• 3 slices of good Finnish rye bread
• 10 dl luke warm water
• about 500 grams or 8 dl rye flour (medium)

I cut the crust off the bread, and crumbled the insides into the water. Then I let them dilute, added the flour, and stirred it in. I covered the bowl with some plastic wrap and poked a few air vents in the plastic.

Now I let the starter sit in a warm place, in room temperature, for about 22 hours. I whisked it briskly every now and then, maybe about five times all and all, and covered again after each time. It was all bubbly and foamy when it was ready, and smelled a bit sour and sweet.

The starter can be developed further for up to another 24 hours, which would most likely make it even more sour. The traditional way is to leave some dough on the sides of the wooden mixing bowl, let it dry, and just add the water and flour in the bowl to wake up the starter when needed. Some food scientists say only freshly milled flour works in a sourdough starter, but I just used what we had in the cupboard and it worked fine. Now if Finnish rye bread isn’t available, I don’t see why any kind of sourdough starter wouldn’t do just as well.

The Bread:

• about 1 kg or 16 dl rye flour (medium)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 dl warm water
• the rye sourdough starter

When the starter was ready I mixed it with the salt and the warm water, and then kneaded in the flour a little by little. I kneaded until the dough was still soft but seemed workable. Rye flour isn’t very glutinous and the dough is bound to remain sticky, but that’s how it should be – the coarser the flour, the softer the dough, as Onerva Niilola explained in Kolmonen’s book. I reserved a piece of the dough about the size of my fist and froze it to be used as a starter the next time I bake rye bread.

Now I let the dough rise in a warm place for 4 hours, in two separate bowls that were covered with clean kitchen towels, until it had just about doubled in size. Then I divided the dough in three equal portions and lightly kneaded them a few times with floured hands until slightly firmer to the touch. I shaped the pieces into three round loaves with well floured hands on a well floured working surface and let them rise, covered with kitchen towels, for about 2 hours more until the surface started to crack. These round loaves are called limppu in Finnish.

Before baking the breads I made a few slits on the surface of the bread, but this isn’t traditional – the breads are usually just poked with the spikes of a fork here and there. I just think the slits are pretty, and I like how they offer a peek inside the bread.

I baked one bread at a time, in 200 degrees Celsius for 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust had browned and the bread sounded hollow when tapped on the bottom. Then I wrapped them tightly in kitchen towels and let the crusts soften overnight. The bread should be moist but well baked in the center, and it’s at its best a few days after baking. We store our rye bread in paper bags – with time it dries a bit and is easier to slice thinly.

If fresh lingonberries are hard to find, there are a number of other berries that would work as well  – cranberries or red currants probably being closest taste-wise. Another option would be to use lingonberry jam instead of the fresh berries and the sugar.

Here’s what I used (serves 2):

• 2 dl boiling hot water
• 1/2 dl rye flour (or a bit more if you prefer it thicker)
• pinch of salt
• 1 and 1/2 dl crushed lingonberries
• 1/2 dl whole cane sugar (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

I poured the boiled water in a large mixing bowl, and plugged my electric whisk. Then I started whisking the water and sprinkled the rye flour in the bowl. I continued whisking for about 10 minutes, until the rye porridge had turned quite light in color and fluffy in consistency. Then I added the rest of the ingredients and whisked for a few more minutes until thoroughly combined.

This is best served with cold vegan milk or vanilla custard.

Vispipuuro is most traditionally made with lingonberries, but other berries and fruit can be used just as well. The garnish in the picture is red currants, which make a nice porridge too – and one variation is to use pureed apricots for a pretty yellow version. This time I used muscovado sugar because it pairs especially well with the strong aromatic taste of the lingonberries, but consequently the color of the porridge isn’t quite as pink as it would be with white sugar. Either way, this is one my most favorite desserts ever – and also one of the few traditional Finnish dishes that are vegan!

The Ingredients (serves 6):

• 10 dl water
• 1 and 3/4 dl semolina
• 4 dl lingonberries (200 g)
• 1 and 1/2 dl (muscovado) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I started out by puréeing the berries with our stick blender until they were all smooth. Then I heated the water until it was boiling, and whisked in the semolina. I added the berries, sugar, and salt, and cooked the porridge for about 10 minutes, stirring all the time, until it had thickened a bit. The amount of sugar depends on the acidity of the berries, so it’s always a good idea to start with less and add more if needed.

The porridge has to cool down before it’s whipped, or else it won’t get all light and foamy. I poured the porridge in a large mixing bowl, let it sit in the room temperature for a few hours, and then refrigerated until it had cooled completely. Then I beat it with our mixer until it started to get lighter in color and quite fluffy, which took about 5 minutes or so.

Lingonberry semolina porridge is velvety right after it’s made, and after a night in the fridge it becomes a little more solid. It’s especially nice served with a little sugar and some cold soy milk!

The Best Mail Day Ever:

Sinead, whom I got to know through her blog Kitchen Dancing, is a Canadian vegan living in the UK, and she happens to like the Finnish salty liqourice candy called salmiakki. As per her request, I sent her a small assortment of different kinds of vegan salmiakki last week. On Monday the mailman delivered a brown package to our door, and it was filled with the cutest things: deliciously chewy ginger biscotti and truffles filled with white chocolate straight from Sinead’s kitchen, along with a beautifully packaged rosemary chocolate from a local chocolate shop, and a Secret Society of Vegans Membership Card! A great deal for me, no? Thanks Sinead, you are the sweetest!

We made our pasha with Estonian soy quark and soy whip cream, but I think plain soy yogurt, soy cream cheese, and soy sour cream would be great substitutes. We buy our soy quark from an Estonian grocery Eestin Herkut, or from the all-vegan grocery shop Asoka, both in Kallio. Traditional pasha is made in a special pasha mold that has a pyramidal shape, but since we don’t have one, we just used a fine sieve and got a nice round pasha instead.

This is what we used (serves 4-5):

• 2 dl vegan whip cream (GoGreen Vispi)
• 300 g soy quark (SoSoja lemon vanilla)
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 dl almonds, toasted and finely chopped or ground
• 1 dl candied citron (sukaatti in Finnish)
• 1/2 dl chopped sultanas
• grated peel of one orange
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

We first whisked together the soy quark, soy whip cream, and margarine, until the mixture was smooth, and then added the rest of the ingredients and mixed thoroughly. Now, it’s important to check the taste: it should be both tart and sweet, and finding the right balance between the two depends on the soy products used and the sweetness of the dried fruit. The flavors will deepen when the pasha sits in the fridge overnight, but at this point it might be necessary to add a hint of lemon juice if the mixture is too sweet.

Now, we covered a fine sieve with a layer of cheese cloth, and spooned the pasha mixture in the sieve. Then we placed the sieve over a deep bowl and covered with a lid, and placed the bowl in the fridge to let our pasha drain overnight.

The next day, we removed the bowl from the fridge, removed the sieve, and covered it with a serving plate, making sure that no cheesecloth remained under the rims of the sieve. Now we turned the whole thing upside down to plate our pasha. We peeled the cheesecloth, decorated the pasha with citron and sultanas, and devoured it with a cup of strong black Russian tea.

Some people prefer their cakes moistened with Punsch, but most use rum or almond extract as a flavoring instead. As with any traditional recipe, there are numerous variations of the Runeberg’s Cake – some make theirs with ginger bread crumbs, and most use almonds in some form; some want their cakes very moist, and some prefer a crumbly cake. Most recipes have twice as much margarine or butter as my recipe, but I wanted to make a lighter cake, so we could eat several of them!

My Runeberg’s cakes include things I found in the cupboard yesterday evening: digestive cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, ground almonds, almond extract, and hazelnut-almond rice milk. We couldn’t resist having a bite of these yesterday evening, but the real treat was at the breakfast today, when the flavors had developed in the fridge overnight. The texture is quite crumbly, since I don’t like my cakes too moist, but the moistness is easily adjusted by the amount of liquid infused in the cakes after baking. This recipe makes exactly 12 cakes.

Dry Mix:

• 2 and 1/2 dl ground cookies (we had digestives)
• 2 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 2 dl bread crumbs
• 1 dl ground almonds (50 g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• pinch each: cinnamon, cardamom, dried ginger

Wet Mix:

• 1/2 dl dark syrup
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 1 dl liquid margarine (or melted margarine)
• 1 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt (plain, unsweetened)
• 1 dl hazelnut-almond rice milk (or other vegan milk)
• a few drops of almond extract (not more!)

Moistening:

• about 2 dl hazelnut-almond rice milk (or other vegan milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Decoration:

• 2 and 1/2 dl confectioner’s sugar
• a few teaspoons orange juice (or water, or soy milk)
• raspberry jam

I made the cake batter like a muffin batter: mixed wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then combined the two, and mixed just enough to combine. Now, I greased and floured my muffin tin, and spooned the batter in the cups. I leveled the surface of each cake, and then baked the cakes in 175 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, until they were a little browned over the tops.

After the cakes had cooled down a little bit, I removed them from the tin, and moistened them with rice milk flavored with rum extract. I spread the milk over the cakes with a teaspoon and let them infuse all of it. Some people just make a mixture of rum, water, and sugar to moisten their cakes, some use additional almond extract in this. More liquid can be used to make moister cakes.

I made the icing as thick as possible, first adding just enough liquid in the confectioner’s sugar to produce a crumbly paste, and then adding some more drop by drop until the consistency was just thin enough for piping. I placed a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle of each cake, and then piped a circle of white sugar icing around the tops of the cakes. Now, I leveled the jam to make it coat the whole cake. After having a test bite with Heikki, I refrigerated the rest of the cakes until the next day.

I read many Finnish recipes for these confections, and most of them recommended boiling agar for 30-45 minutes, even when using the powdered kind. This seems contrary to the Asian style agar recipes that recommend only a minute or two of boiling. In Finland, agar is only sold in pharmacies and Asian groceries, and I’ve never bought it from the pharmacy – maybe their powder is coarser than the Asian one.

Anyway, these easy and quick recipes are designed for the Asian type agar powder, which is also considerably more economical than the one sold in pharmacies. Some advance planning is still required, since the confections need to dry up in room temperature for at least a few days before wrapping.

Lingonberry Confections:

Lingonberries are small, deep red in color, aromatic, and a little tarter in flavor than cranberries, and as such are perfect for marmalade.

• 1/2 dl lingonberry juice
• 200 g frozen lingonberries
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 dl water
• 2 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder
• extra fine granulated sugar for coating

First, I cooked the frozen lingonberries in the berry juice until they were soft, which took about 5 minutes. Then I placed a fine sieve over a mixing bowl, poured the lingonberries in the sieve, and pressed them with a tablespoon to get all the juice in the bowl.

Then I heated the sugar and water on medium heat until they were bubbling and the sugar granules had dissolved. Now, I sprinkled the agar over the sugary mixture and whisked, letting it bubble, until all the agar had dissoved, and the mixture started to thicken. After about a minute and a half, I took the pan off heat, and let it cool down a few seconds.

Now, I poured the agar mixture in the lingonberry bowl, and whisked until everything was combined. Then I poured the mixture in a bread pan covered with plastic wrap, trying to level the surface as well as I could. Now, I let the marmalade cool down in the room temperature until it was settled, and then refrigerated it for 15 minutes to make sure it would settle. I covered two cutting boards with baking parchment, and then turned the marmalade dish upside down over one of the cutting boards, so that the block dropped.

I cut the marmalade in pieces with a sharp knife, and separated the pieces from each other. Now, the marmalade has to dry up before it’s coated with fine sugar, because otherwise the sugar will get soggy from the moisture.

I dried my marmalade confections for about two days, flipping them over a few times to let each side dry up. The second cutting board was needed for the flipping; I just placed it over the confections, turned the whole thing upside down, and removed the first clipping board and the parchment paper carefully. The marmalade is dry enough when it feels sticky, not moist, when touched with a fingertip. The time required for drying depends on the amount of sugar used in the recipe.

After two days, we coated the marmalade confections with fine granulated sugar. Then we let them dry up in room temperature a few more days just to make sure the sugar wouldn’t melt, and then packed them in small zip lock bags.

Sea buckthorn and lingonberry confections dry up, and then get coated with sugar.

Blueberry Confections:

I just recently learnt that Finnish blueberries aren’t actually blueberries, and they should instead be called bilberries. They are smaller and darker in color than North American blueberries, and are also more acidic and aromatic. The two berries are still almost identical, so I think it’s just easiest for everyone to call them both blueberries.

• 1/2 dl cranberry juice
• 200 g frozen blueberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 dl water
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder

I made the blueberry confections almost exactly like the lingonberry marmalade, with only three minor alterations. I didn’t add sherry when I boiled the berries, and reduced the amount of sugar while adding some lemon juice, because blueberries are sweeter and not as acidic as lingonberries.

Sea Buckthorn Berry Confections:

Sea buckthorn berries are also pretty tart, but are mostly available in sugary jam form – I can’t remember ever eating a fresh sea buckthorn berry.

• 160 g sea buckthorn berry jam
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 dl water
• 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 dl confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder

Since I used store bought sea buckthorn jam, I just prepared the water-sugar-agar -mixture like in the previous recipes, and then added the jam, lemon juice, and vanilla sugar in the agar agar pan.

Sea buckthorn marmalade block before and after cutting.

Pear Confections:

• 1 can (400 g) of pears in juice
• 1 and 1/2 dl of the pear juice from the can
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• a pinch of green food coloring
• 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder

First, I cooked the pear sauce. I drained the pears, and saved the pear juice. Then I cut the pears in small pieces and placed them in a small sauce pan, measured 1/2 dl of the pear juice, and added that to the pan with the sherry. Now, I simmered the pears for about 15 minutes, until they were all mushy, and then puréed them with a hand held mixer. Then I poured the pear sauce in a mixing bowl to cool a little. Then I added 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice and the food coloring in the pear sauce bowl and mixed to combine. Food coloring is completely optional of course, but without it the marmalade will have a light grey color.

Now, I measured 1 dl of the pear juice from the can to the cooking pot, added the sugar, and then brought the mixture to boil. I whisked the mixture while it was simmering to avoid the burning of any of the sugar granules, and let it bubble up until all the sugar had dissolved. Now, I sprinkled the agar over the sugary mixture and whisked it, letting it bubble, until all the agar had dissolved, and the mixture started to thicken. After about a minute, I took the pan off heat, and let it cool down a few seconds.

I poured the agar mixture in the pear sauce bowl, and whisked until everything was combined. Now, I tasted the mixture to adjust the lemon-sugar balance, adding 1 more teaspoon of lemon juice. More or less might be needed, depending on the acidity of the pears themselves. Now, I proceeded as with the berry confections.

Mango Confections:

• 2 dl mango pulp (unsweetened, from the Asian grocery)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• (a pinch of yellow food coloring)
• 2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 dl water
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder

I made these mango confections exactly like the pear marmalade, but since I used storebought mango purée, the fruit didn’t need to be boiled. I just mixed the mango, vanilla sugar, lime juice, and yellow food coloring in a mixing bowl, and poured the agar mixture in the bowl. I also used water instead of pear juice for the agar- sugar solution.

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10 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN MAKING PERFECT MARMALADE CONFECTIONS:

1. Planning ahead is required: the marmalade confections need to dry up for one to three days before packing – first without the sugar coating, and preferably also after coating.
2. These recipes are designated for agar agar in powdered form. Agar flakes and sticks have different properties, and thus need different recipes.
3. Use the finest granulated sugar available for coating (not confectioner’s sugar though), this makes the confections more pleasant to eat.
4. Any fruit or berry can be used to make these confections, but the proportions should be approximately 2 dl of fruit for 1 tablespoon agar, 1 dl water, and 2 dl sugar. Adjust the amount of sugar according to the acidity of the fruit or berry.
5. When making gifts, it’s best to choose a few differently colored fruits or berries; a yellow fruit and a red berry for example. Similar colors with different flavors should never be packed in the same package.
6. Thick fruit purées make the most aromatic confetions, but using fruit juice results in a pretty transparent appeareance. When using juice, it should be as strong and flavorful as possible.
7. It’s best to check the acidity of the agar mixture before it’s thickened. Even one teaspoon of lemon or lime juice deepens the flavors.
8. After pouring the marmalade mixture in a rectangular dish to thicken, do not move the dish during the thickening process, until the mixture had cooled down to room temperature. Agar sets at 32-40 degrees Celsius.
9. The marmalade confections get very tacky when they dry up, and need to be separated from each other at all times to avoid them sticking to each other. After drying, they get insulated by the sugar coating.
10. Marmalade confections are good for you, and home-made gifts are good for the whole universe.

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For a veganized version, we use textured soy protein granules instead of the traditional minced meat. Another protein source could of course be substituted, but this looks most like the real thing, an important factor when feeding a picky little meat-eater. A locally produced alternative for us would have been to use crushed fava beans (härkäpapurouhe) from our neighborhood’s organic store, but we played it safe to please the kid in the table.

Traditionally, this casserole is bound together by a sauce made of eggs and milk, which we substitute with tofu and oat milk. Sometimes you see grated carrots in the veggie version, but I like to keep this simple. This recipe makes a lot, probaby enough for 9, so we froze the leftovers.

What we used:

• 2 onions, cubed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 dl textured soy protein granules soaked in 4 dl water
• 10 dl or 500 g macaroni

In the Sauce:

• 1 cube vegetable stock
• 1 dl boiling water
• 1 liter plain oat milk (or soy milk)
• 300 g firm silken tofu (we had Mori-Nu)
• 1 tablespoon raw cane sugar
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• pinch of salt

Seasonings:

• black pepper and salt to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or sliced
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Topping:

• 1/2 dl bread crumbs OR
• 5 cream crackers, crushed

First, Heikki cooked the macaroni according to the instructions on the bag, but leaving it a little bit al dente. Then he drained and rinsed the macaroni with cold water in a colander to prevent sticking.

Then, I fried the cubed onions in olive oil until they were translucent and slightly browned. The soy granules had absorbed all the liquid. I added them in the pan with all the seasonings and fried this for a while.

Then Heikki prepared the sauce. First, he mixed the stock cube with boiling water and stirred this until the cube was dissolved. Then he added all the other ingredients in the sauce – milk, tofu, salt, and sugar – and mashed this with a hand held mixer until completely smooth.

Now, Heikki poured the cooked macaroni and the soy granule mixture in a rectangular cooking pan, mixed them thoroughly, and poured the tofu sauce on top of this. Then I sprinkled the crushed cream crackers on top of the casserole.

We baked the casserole in the oven for 50 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius, until it was browned on top, and the tofu sauce had thickened nicely. For the last 5 minutes, I placed the pan in the upper part of the oven to brown it a little bit more.

The casserole was served with ketchup, obviously, and the adult eaters sprinkled their plates with 4 tablespoons fresh parsley mixed with one clove crushed garlic.

My mom grew Swiss chard (mangoldi in Finnish) for the first time this summer at our country house, and we have eaten a lot of it with Heikki. One of our new favorites is this recipe, which I adapted from a recipe for a vegetarian version of Tunisian sahel. Unfortunately chard is not generally available in grocery stores in Finland, so probably we’ll have to wait until next summer to have this again. Chard could of course be replaced with another leafy vegetable, something form the Asian market nearby we visit frequently, maybe.

Here are the ingredients:

• 5-6 really big Swiss chard leaves, stemmed, rinsed and torn into large pieces

• 3 large cloves garlic, sliced

• 1 onion, cubed finely

• 1 big tomato, cubed

• 2 dl cooked or canned chick peas (drained)

• 1 dl oat milk, or plain soy milk

• ½ dl dry white wine

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1-2 teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon jeera (cumin powder)

• ½ teaspoon hot crushed chili

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• a pinch of cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

First, we steam the chard leaves for about 4 minutes, until tender but not mushy. Then we put the chard in a colander to drain and cool down a bit:

Then we set the chard on a cutting board, and cut coarsely with a knife. The garlic and the tomato got cut while chard was cooling:

To cook, we heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and fry cubed onion until it is translucent. Then we add garlic and other spices and fry them for a minute or so. After this, all the other ingredients (except for the lemon juice) are added, and the stew can cook on mild heat for 10-15 minutes. We have this with jasmin rice that Heikki makes in the rice cooker, but I think the Tunisian version is a meal on its own. Before serving, we adjust the taste, squeeze some lemon juice on the stew, and that’s it.

Swiss chard is the most beautiful of the leafy vegetables, in my opinion. The city of Helsinki even uses it as a part of their flower beds!