Who doesn’t love a good berry? Blueberry, raspberry, strawberry (even cherry, if you’re not fussy with your definitions) … And if you are lucky enough to spend the summer in Norway, there are several other important members of the berry family you should get to know. We mentioned picking berries near a cabin (wild strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries), and we have also been gifted with berries made into syrup from some Norwegian friends (wine raspberry, to be precise). It was amazing on pancakes (bilberry) and also on vanilla ice cream. And chocolate ice cream. And pretty much everything else we’ve tried it on.
Because they’re hard to come by, and because they are so much a part of summer life in Scandinavia, we thought we’d share some of the less-familiar kinds of berries we have been enjoying. Nearly all of these berries grow wild, and Norwegians forage for them throughout the summer. They’re not grown in huge quantities by commercial farmers, so they are not bred to travel. That means they’re fragile and difficult to transport. They are also smaller and less sweet than we are used to. That actually makes them taste better, though; the fruit flavour is more concentrated. The wild strawberries tasted astonishingly like a certain lip balm of our youth (Laurel’s, really; whatever John was up to in his youth did not involve lip balm). We have the feeling if and when we eat them again, they will take us immediately back to our summer in Oslo.
Cloudberries
The cloudberry is miraculous! Related to roses, they look like small blackberries or raspberries, maybe half the size. they have an interesting sex life too, but we won’t get into too much detail here (unlike most berries, they require male pollination). They are more tart than sweet, and when they get ripe they become almost creamy. These berries are most often made into jam or whipped with cream and sugar – both excellent! And we are told that the Finns make alcohol of them – we’ll look into that and report back!
Bilberries
Ok; yes. These look a lot like blueberries. But only superficially. Blueberries (which are a New World crop) are pale imitations of their smaller Old World relatives. Literally: while the flesh of the blueberry is whitish, that of bilberries is dark red and will stain your hands like nobody’s business. Or your tongue. They’re also a more concentrated flavour and, when cooked, have a thicker texture.
Lingonberries
If you are a fan of IKEA, and who isn’t, you have probably eaten lingonberry jam on your Swedish meatballs. So these might not be as unfamiliar to you as the others. To the un-expert palate (i.e., ours), these berries are not wildly different from cranberries. Their tartness means they are usually made into jam or syrup.
Gooseberries
These berries are related to currants, but with cool striated skins. Gooseberries are common in the U.K., and exist in the U.S., though we’ve never run into them there. They are edible when unripe (and green, as above), but usually at this stage are canned or turned into jam. When fully ripe they turn red or purple. They taste a bit like grapes but have the texture of cherry tomatoes.
We are willing to wager that if you’ve ever tried any of these berries, anywhere in Northern Europe, your mouth is watering and you are thinking back to that moment. With these little beauties around, who needs sugar? (Except if you are making jam…)
