Cloudberry

What it is

Cloudberry is Rubus chamaemorus, a relative of raspberries and salmonberries. The fruit is roughly raspberry-sized, made of six to eight little fleshy segments packed together. The juicy flesh holds hard seeds. Cooking can toughen them, so some recipes press softened berries through a food mill or sieve first.

Where it comes from

Cloudberries grow around the Arctic, with a place in the food cultures of Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. In Iñupiaq, the names include aqpik and akpik. In Finland, the richest picking areas are Kainuu, North Ostrobothnia and Lapland, where the berries grow on peatlands and provide a seasonal income for pickers.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Finland, cloudberries or their jam go with leipäjuusto, the bread cheese also called squeaky cheese. In Norway, multekrem folds berries or jam into sweetened whipped cream and is a traditional Christmas dessert. Swedes spoon cloudberries over ice cream.

In western Alaska, the berries go into agutak, a local treat. Their flavour also pairs with vanilla or citrus, and cloudberry jam can fill a cake or a thumbprint cookie.

How it's grown

In Alaska, slender stems stand only 5–20 cm (2–8 in) high in boggy tundra and forest. Each carries a few rounded leaves and a single white flower. Plants have separate male and female flowers on different individuals, so a patch needs both sexes to bear fruit. In Finland, cloudberries are also grown in plastic-lined basins filled with sphagnum peat.

When and where you'll find it

In Alaska, berries usually ripen from late July into early August. Finland’s season usually starts in mid-July in the south and early August in the north. Ripe fruit releases easily from its stem and needs shallow containers to avoid crushing.

For US shoppers, Scandinavian specialty groceries and online food shops offer preserves. Hafi’s Swedish cloudberry jam, made with wild berries, is one example.