The FOX CALENDAR 2013

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A crayfish party is a traditional summertime tradition in Sweden, where a crayfish party is called a "kräftskiva".

Dining is traditionally outdoors, but the party is often driven indoors by bad weather or aggressive mosquitoes. Customary party accessories are comical paper hats, paper tablecloths, paper lanterns (often depicting the Man in the Moon), and bibs. The crayfish are boiled in salt water and seasoned with fresh dill (Anethum graveolens) – preferably "crown dill" harvested after the plant has flowered – then served cold and eaten with one’s fingers.

Crayfish parties are generally held during August, a tradition that started because crayfish harvesting was not allowed between November 1 and August 7, this means that the date for "kräftpremiären" (the crayfish premiere) was on August 8.

Today, the kräftpremiär date in early August has no legal significance. We also import crayfish from other countries, which means we could eat crawfish year round, if we wanted to…

The first time crayfish is mentioned in connection with Swedish gastronomy is in a letter from Erik XIV dated 1562, where the king commands that one should obtain as much crayfish as possible for his sister Anna's wedding. At the time, the crayfish was a main ingredient in different kinds of stuffing and stews.