Anne Aamodt, founder of Ebbas Matgleder, spent many hours in the kitchen with her grandmother Ebba, who taught her how to cook with fresh and local ingredients. She remembers the smell of freshly baked bread, the taste of homemade jam, the sound of crackling stoves, and the warmth and joy that her grandmother created around the big table, where family, friends and neighbours gathered to share stories and meals.
Ebbas Matgleder, named after Anne’s grandmother, was founded five years ago with the premise of preserving traditions and local ingredients to create modern traditional food. The company makes many different products, but their focus is mainly on syrups, sauces, jellies, and jams from wild berries and plants harvested in the local, Norwegian forest.
Anne’s love for food led her to study in Switzerland and France, where she became a fully trained cook and pastry chef. There, she discovered the concept of ‘terroir’, which became the basis of her company.
“Terroir is a French term that describes the unique characteristics of a place that affect the crops grown there. It includes factors such as soil, climate, altitude, neighbouring plants and animals, and human practices,” Anne explains.
“Terroir gives each product a distinctive taste and identity, so the products I make have distinct flavours to my region.”
The products made by Ebbas Matgleder have a high content of fruit and berries, and are also rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Around Anne’s village of Gardvik, to the northeast of Oslo, plants and berries such as forest berries, cranberries, spruce shoots, and wild raspberries are available for her to make her products.
“Many tons of wild berries grow in the forest every year, but they’re often wasted because we have lost the habit of harvesting our own fruit,” she says.
“Nowadays, we can easily buy what we need in the supermarket, such as blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. However, if we explore our own region, we discover that the forest offers a rich variety of healthy berries that are waiting to be picked and enjoyed. My company does exactly that, so everything we make is a labour of love.”
Ebbas Matgleder has received the prestigious Spesialitet label for four of its products. The label is a mark of quality for local food and drinks in Norway, awarded by an independent jury with a high level of food expertise. It signifies that the products have a high quality and a unique origin or recipe.
“My main goal is to create quality products from local ingredients that evoke a sense of purity and fresh forest air. The forest is something we need to take care of, and we can enjoy its bounty in a sustainable and respectful way if we treat it right”, Anne says.
While it’s an idyllic description, Anne is no stranger to hard work. That hard work, she says, has been essential to her success.
“Running your own business teaches you a valuable lesson: nothing happens overnight, and everything comes at a price. We have worked hard and diligently to achieve our goals. We want to spread the word about our products and the value of keeping our traditions alive, but above all, we want to protect the natural beauty that surrounds us.”
Ebbas Matgleder may be based on tradition, but that doesn’t stop Anne from innovating and enhancing their products, nor making many ambitious plans for the future. She wants to create products with lower sugar content, as well as to grow her network and reach a wider audience. Plus, she has her eyes on obtaining the Debio label, a prestigious certification for organic products, in the next two or three years. No doubt, her grandmother Ebba would be proud.
