Eva Ekeblad

Eva Ekeblad : 10 July 1724 – 15 May 1786) was a Swedish countess who was a salonist, agronomist, and scientist. She was widely known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, allowing greater use of scarce grains for food production, significantly reducing Sweden's incidence of famine.

Eva Ekeblad

Born 10 July 1724 Stockholm, Sweden

Died 15 May 1786 (aged 61) Skaraborg County, Sweden

Residence Stockholm and Västergötland

Citizenship Swedish

Fields Agronomy

Books: Children, learning, numbers

Known for Making flour and alcohol from potatoes (1746)

Influenced Reduced hunger by making potatoes a basic food

Notable awards Membership in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1748)

Spouse Claes Claesson Ekeblad (m. 1740; his death 1771)

Children 7, including Hedda Piper (Ulrika Fock Ekeblad, Agneta Sofia Ekeblad)

Parents: Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie

Siblings: Hedvig Catharina von Fersen, Carl Julius De la Gardie, more

How did she help to tackle famine?

• Ekeblad’s discoveries came at a time when Sweden had a shortage of cereals.
• It helped reduce famine in Sweden because potatoes were being used to make alcohol instead of wheat, rye and barley.
• The grains became available for making bread. In turn, there was a spike in alcohol consumption in the Scandinavian country.
• A trailblazer for women, she became the first woman to join the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1748.
• There would not be another female member for 203 years.

First woman in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: full member 1748–51, honorary member 1751–86

Personal life

Eva De la Gardie was born to statesman count Magnus Julius De la Gardie (1668–1741) and the amateur politician and salonist Hedvig Catharina Lilje: sister of Captain Carl Julius De la Gardie and Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie and the aunt of Axel von Fersen the Younger. Her brother was married to Cathérine Charlotte De la Gardie and the brother-in-law of the royal favorite Hedvig Taube.

In 1740, Eva married at the age of 16 the riksråd count Claes Claesson Ekeblad, and became the mother of seven children; one son and six daughters, Claes Julius Ekeblad (1742–1808) and Hedda Piper among them. Their spouses belonged to the elite of the Swedish nobility.

Upon her marriage, her father, Julius De la Gardie, gave Eva the estates Mariedal Castle and Lindholmen Castle, Västergötland. Her husband, additionally, owned the Stola Manor estate as well as a residence in the capital of Stockholm.

Because of the frequent absence of her husband on business, Eva Ekeblad was given the responsibility of the management of the three estates, including the tasks of supervising the bailiffs and presiding at the country-assemblies of the parishes of the estates. She is described as imposing and temperamental with great authority: fair toward the peasantry, whom she protected against abuse from the bailiffs in return for obedience, and as someone who did not hesitate to rectify and punish wrongdoings during conflicts with local dignitaries. She also had a leading role in the local aristocracy, and Stola manor was renowned for its good order.

In the Ekeblad residence in Stockholm, she hosted a cultural salon and was described by the wife of the Spanish Ambassador de marquis de Puentefuerte as "one of few aristocratic ladies whose honor was considered untainted". The first concert performances of the mass music of Johan Helmich Roman were performed in her salon at the Ekeblad House. She was on friendly terms with queen Louisa Ulrika.

After the death of her husband in 1771, she retired to the countryside. Mariedal and Lindholmen estates served as her dower estates, the former being her personal residence. She initially also kept control of her son's estate Stola, he being also absent from his estates like his father because of his career.

In 1775, her son Claes Julius Ekeblad (1742–1808) married Brita Horn, and three years afterwards Stola manor was granted to her daughter-in-law as a dower. In November 1778, Eva Ekeblad was present as a witness at the birth of the future Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. She stayed in the capital for two years, during which time she was much celebrated and offered several positions at court: as a lady-in-waiting to the queen; as överhovmästarinna (Mistress of the Robes) in succession to Ulrika Strömfelt; and as royal governess for the Crown Prince. She was forced to refuse, however, because her hitherto good health was affected by an illness that year which left her much weakened and made her periodically bedridden for her remaining eight years. She spent her last six years in Mariedal Castle, where she continued to be celebrated by the local aristocracy until she died.

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Her experiments with a culinary oddity led to a major breakthrough

Charged with the management of her family’s land - where she attained a reputation for being firm but fair in her dealings with both bailiffs and peasantry - Ekeblad began experimenting on potatoes in 1746.

The root vegetable was then a considerable novelty in Sweden having only been introduced to society in 1658. It was rarely grown outside of the greenhouses of the gentry and even then intended only for animals. The possibility of its use in brandy production had been raised in parliament in 1741 but how precisely this tantalising prospect might be attained remained unknown.

Operating from her kitchen, the countess quickly deduced that the foodstuff could be cooked, crushed and dried to make flour and therefore distilled to make clear spirits – a discovery that soon sparked a craze for potato-based vodka, and much drinking, across northern European.

Scientific work

In 1746, Ekeblad wrote to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on her discoveries of how to make flour and alcohol out of potatoes. Potatoes had been introduced into Sweden in 1658, but had been cultivated only in the greenhouses of the aristocracy. Ekeblad's work turned potatoes into a staple food in Sweden, and increased the supply of wheat, rye and barley available for making bread, since potatoes could be used instead to make alcohol. This greatly improved the country's eating habits and reduced the frequency of famines.

She also discovered a method of bleaching cotton textile and yarn with soap in 1751, and of replacing the dangerous ingredients in cosmetics of the time by using potato flour (1752); she is said to have advertised the plant by using its flowers as hair ornaments.

In 1748, Eva Ekeblad became the first woman elected to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. There are no records of her ever having participated in the meetings of the Academy. In 1751, the Academy came to refer to her as an honorary rather than a full member, as the statutes confined membership to men.

She was the first woman admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Ekeblad submitted her findings to the Swedish Academy in 1746 and was rewarded by becoming its first female member when the full significance of her breakthrough was understood.

Eva’s work helped solve Sweden’s recurrent food crises as potatoes were now being used to make alcohol, therein reducing dependence on other staple cereals like oats, rye and barley and freeing them up for use in baking bread to feed the hungry.

The innovation reduced the risk of famine and relieved a terrible strain on the rural poor. 

Archaic gender by-laws saw Ekeblad’s membership of the society downgraded to honorary status in 1751, although she would remain its only female inductee for 200 years until nuclear physicist Lise Meitner was admitted in 1951.

The academy has more recently appointed its first female president, however, with organic chemist Christina Moberg ascending to the role in 2015.

Ekeland grew her own set of potatoes and began experimenting, having heard that in Germany it had been used to create alcoholic drinks. In 1746, Ekeblad discovered that the rare vegetables could be cooked, crushed and dried to create a form of flour.  

At 24 she submitted her findings to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and became the first female to be admitted. The discovery helped solve a food crisis in Sweden, freeing up traditional cereals for food as it could be used to make alcohol. 

It came at a time when Sweden had a shortage of cereals, such as oats and barley, which were necessary for the country's food and alcohol supplies. But it also contributed to a spike in alcohol consumption. 

The vegetable wouldn't become a common food staple in Sweden until later in the 19th century, around the same time it rose to prominence in British cooking and underpinned economic progress and the Industrial Revolution. 

Here are five things to know about Ekeblad:

She used potatoes to make flour and alcohol and helped solve Sweden’s food crisis.

Before Ekeblad, potatoes were actually considered inedible for humans and were reserved for animals.

When she extracted starch from potatoes as part of an experiment, she discovered the food could not only be used to create alcoholic drinks, but a form of flour as well.

This was during a time when Sweden was suffering a shortage of oats and barley, both necessary for the country’s food and alcohol supplies, according to the Telegraph.

“Eva discovered the starch was humble but mighty – potatoes could be ground into flour or distilled into spirits. Her discovery helped reduce famine in years to come,” Google noted.

She was the first woman to join the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In 1748, 24-year-old Ekeblad was elected to the honorable Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, an independent, non-governmental organization that prides itself in “promoting the sciences and strengthening their influence in society,” for her work with potatoes.

After Ekeblad, there wouldn’t be another woman to join the academy until Austrian nuclear physicist Lie Meitner in 1951.

Ekeblad was married to a count double her age.

At age 16, Ekeblad (born Eva De La Gardie) married Count Claes Claesson Ekeblad and during their 31-year marriage, they had seven children.

Her sister-in-law stopped the last witch trial in Sweden.

In 1758, Ekeblad’s sister-in-law Catherine Charlotte De La Gardie helped put an end to the last witch hunt in Dalarna, Sweden.

According to her biography, she was awarded a medal after offering legal assistance to the victims of the witch hunt and making sure they were fairly compensated for their suffering.

De La Gardie is also regarded as the person who publicly introduced the smallpox vaccination in Sweden. The vaccine was officially introduced in 1756, it wasn’t fully accepted until De la Gardie used the vaccine on her own children and other farmers followed suit.

She died at age 61.

Ekeblad, who lived her life among Sweden’s nobility, died on May 15, 1786, in Mariedal, Sweden, after she was bedridden with poor health.

After falling ill she retreated to the country, spending her final years in Mariedal Castle until her death in 1786.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences would not elect another woman to its ranks until 1951 – 203 years after Ekeblad was admitted.

In 2015 it elected its first female president, the esteemed organic chemist Professor Christina Moberg.

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