Food WTF: Cloudberries

Cloudberries are another tasty discovery from our trip to Sweden. I used cloudberry jam to make lusikkaleivat (Finnish spoon cookies).

We were told that they grow only in the Arctic Circle, but apparently that is not true. The locals must have thought they can tell the stupid Americans anything and (of course) we would believe them.

Anyway, here's what Wikipedia has to say:

The cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus), also called bakeapple in Atlantic Canada, is a slow-growing alpine or sub-Arctic species of Rubus, producing amber-colored edible fruit. The botanical name (chamæmorus) derives from the Greek khamai ("on the ground") and moros ("mulberry"). Cloudberry is the name for both the plant and the fruit.

Cloudberries occur naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere from 78°N, south to about 55°N, and very scattered south to 44°N mainly in mountainous areas. In Europe and Asia, they grow in the Nordic countries, especially in Finland and much in the Baltic states; sometimes in the moorlands of Britain and Ireland, and across northern Russia east to the Pacific Ocean. Small populations are also found further south, as a botanical vestige of the Ice Ages; it is found in Germany's Weser and Elbe valleys, where it is under legal protection. In North America, cloudberries grow wild across most of Canada / Alaska, and in the lower 48 states of the United States in northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and a small population on Long Island, New York.

The cloudberry can withstand cold temperatures down to well below -40°C, but is sensitive to salt and to dry conditions. It grows in bogs, marshes and wet meadows and requires sunny exposures in acidic ground (between 3.5 and 5 pH).

So, what do these little beauties taste like? Sadly, we didn't have the opportunity to taste a fresh cloudberry, what with our being there in the dead of winter, but they are described as tart. Cloudberry jam, however, is glorious! There is a honeyed aspect to it that reminds me a little of quince jam; however, the flavor is squarely in the berry camp. If the sunshine of those heartbreakingly rare and beautiful Arctic summer days could be stuffed into a can, I like to think it would taste like this.

I have yet to see cloudberry jam in a brick-and-mortar store around here, but thanks to the power of the intertubes, you can have that Arctic sunshine delivered to your door. (I'm a fan of Scandia Food, myself.) That said, it ain't cheap. Based on my own surfing, a jar will set you back about $10. That might sound a little extravagant when you can buy a jar of Smucker's for less than half the price, but as far as luxuries go, it's an affordable one. (Think about it, for the price of a Prada bag, you could buy 120 jars of cloudberry jam!) Treat yourself -- you won't regret it.