Julefröjd Tea Towel. A kitchen towel for the weeks when a lot of baking is done.
The Julefröjd Tea Towel is a Swedish tea towel made from organic cotton with a woven Christmas motif, measuring 35 by 50 centimeters. It's not wrapping paper, not a decorative cloth, not a terrycloth towel for the bathroom.
The Julefröjd Tea Towel is a kitchen towel from the Ekelund weaving mill, featuring decorated branches, cones, red and yellow hearts, baubles, and straw stars. There are those weeks in December when the kitchen never truly settles down. Baking sheets go in and out, cookie cutters are everywhere, and eventually, you grab the closest towel. If it also looks good, that's no coincidence, but a decision made back in October.
What a baking towel needs to withstand
Cotton has an advantage when baking for a reason that has little to do with appearance: it absorbs flour dust without spreading it. Microfiber becomes electrostatically charged and pushes flour around, while a cotton towel binds it.
The weave of Julefröjd is medium-dense, meaning the towel remains dimensionally stable while working and doesn't crease. It can be used as a base for rolling out shortcrust pastry because its structure offers enough resistance to prevent the dough from moving with it.
There's one limitation: grease. Butter residues from cookie dough won't completely come out at 40 degrees. Those who bake regularly wash kitchen towels at 60 degrees, and both the color and fiber are designed for this. If you expect a towel to be completely clean at 30 degrees, you're mistaken about baking textiles. It will appear too stained after two seasons.
From cookie sheet to bread basket
Three uses beyond drying are particularly worthwhile during the baking season.
First: Cover freshly baked cookies on the rack with a cloth while they are still warm. They cool down more slowly and thus become less hard, as the residual moisture doesn't evaporate abruptly. Second: Cover yeast dough for proofing with a damp cloth instead of plastic wrap. Cotton allows for gas exchange, which benefits a long proofing process overnight. Third: Wrap stollen in it after baking and let it mature for a few days before putting it in a tin.
For the set table, the motif is available as a matching placemat. Those who prefer a darker Christmas style will find it in the Julfåglar motifs on a black background.
For beginners: A kitchen towel should never be washed with fabric softener. It leaves a hydrophobic film on the fibers, and a towel that repels water is useless as a dishcloth. Already treated towels can usually be salvaged with a wash cycle using vinegar cleaner.
Why straw stars are made of rye
Swedish Christmas decorations originate from a time when very few materials were available in December. What remained was what the harvest had left: rye straw, wood, dyed yarn. Stars and goats were made from rye stalks because rye forms longer and stronger stalks than wheat.
Ekelund has been incorporating such motifs for generations. The weaving mill has existed in Sweden since 1692, is family-run, and works with an archive from which older patterns regularly return in new color schemes. Christmas designs are among the most durable designs in their product range.
Production is done on jacquard looms. Each warp thread can be controlled individually, creating motifs that do not have to consist of repeated patterns. During weaving, patterns and fabric grow simultaneously, which is why an Ekelund towel shows a complete, mirror-inverted image on the back. Printed towels have a front and a back.
Organic cotton with GOTS certification is used. The standard covers the entire chain from fiber to dyeing to confectioning and excludes certain dye groups. For a towel that touches food, this is a sensible criterion.
A towel that is still needed in January
Christmas textiles have a timing problem: they are in use for six weeks and then without a purpose for eleven months. Julefröjd mitigates this because the coloring is warm rather than strictly festive. Red hearts and green branches work in a country kitchen until February without looking out of place.
As an addition to a gift, the towel is better than wrapping paper. A jar of jam or a bottle of oil wrapped in it makes a present where the packaging is part of the gift and doesn't end up in the trash.
Those with a minimalist kitchen and who generally avoid seasonal motifs will not be happy with a distinct Christmas motif. For kitchens with a uniform year-round decor, a distinct Christmas motif is not suitable; in such cases, the floral and nature motifs from the same weaving mill are a better choice.
A towel for the weeks when the oven is rarely cold.
