cloudberry, (Rubus chamaemorus), also called salmonberry, yellowberry, bakeapple, bakeberry, malka, or baked apple berry, creeping herbaceous plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to the Arctic and subarctic regions of the north temperate zone, and its edible raspberry-like fruit. Eskimos and Sami collect the sweet juicy fruits in autumn to freeze for winter food. In markets of northern Scandinavia, cloudberries are sold for use in preserves, tarts, and other confections. They are also made into a liqueur.
Cloudberries are low-growing perennials that spread readily by a creeping rootlike stem, or rhizome. The toothed leaves are circular with rounded lobes. The plants are dioecious, meaning individuals are either male or female. Female plants produce yellow or amber-coloured fruit from a 2.5-cm (1-inch) white flower. The fruits—each technically an aggregate of druplets—are borne terminally on stalks that grow to a height of 7.6–25 cm (3–10 inch
Cloudberries are one of the rarest, and most sought-after, fruits (yes, cloudberry is technically a fruit and not a berry) in the world. In fact, unless you’re actively looking for them, you could go a lifetime and never see one. The boreal bright yellow berries flourish in the most unforgiving of environments and are so desired across Scandinavia that they’ve referred to as “Arctic Gold.”
Cloudberries are only found in the wild, and their locations are kept secret from generation to generation, similar to the way people treat searching for truffles. There’s even a popular (if unverified) story of a woman who broke her leg while picking cloudberries and, rather than give away her location, dragged herself a safe distance from the fruits before finally calling for help. No idea if it’s true, but given the high price of cloudberries, it’s believable!
Love of cloudberries goes back to Viking times (and probably before); Viking explorers were even known to take preserved cloudberries on their voyages, knowing that they could prevent scurvy (due to the high Vitamin C content, a fact that was not known at that time).
What is a cloudberry?
Cloudberries are small, edible fruits that look similar to raspberries but have a vibrant amber hue. They’re part of the rosaceae family of flowering plants which also includes apples, cherries, pears, blackberries, almonds, and ornamental roses. Like many other types of berries, the cloudberry is dioecious – meaning that each plant is either female or male.
Unfortunately, this prized Arctic bramble is not the most efficient reproducer. It takes seven years before the coveted plant can bear fruit.
The berries appear in July and are gone by mid-August when the wild fruit ripens from a bright red to its signature amber shade. Blink twice and you may miss the yearly cloudberry harvest, which can last from a couple of weeks to about a month (and some years there are no cloudberries to be had!).
Weather conditions, like frost and heavy rains, can greatly reduce berry production and location matters; cloudberry patches in wooded areas tend to bear more fruit.
In Nordic countries, the demand for cloudberries tends to exceed what’s picked annually, especially in Norway and Finland where the berry is considered a national delicacy. As a result, municipalities have enacted strict rules on where, and how much, of the rare berry can be collected.
Where do cloudberries grow?
Cloudberries are normally only found in the north of Sweden and in other countries with a similar climate, such as Norway, Finland and Russia. Even in the far north, they are quite fussy about where they grow as they need acidic soil on boggy ground. Provided the soil is right they are extremely hardy and can stand temperatures down to -40°C. (They are usually only found growing in the wild because it is very difficult to create the right conditions to cultivate them commercially.)
When do the berries ripen?
Cloudberries are related to raspberries, but the plant is much smaller, growing to only around 20 cm high. The berries grow on upright stems, each stem boasting just a single berry. The plants begin to flower in June and the berries usually ripen in July. At first the berries are red, but then as they ripen they turn a beautiful golden yellow colour. The season is very short: often they’ve all gone by mid-August.
What do they taste like?
As the berries ripen they become softer, sweeter and juicier, but most people find them rather seedy and a bit too sour to eat without adding sugar. Their flavour is unique and hard to describe, being something like a cross between raspberries, blackberries and red currants.
Are cloudberries expensive?
Yes, even in Sweden cloudberries are expensive because they have to be gathered in the wild and they do not appreciate being handled much.
Raw cloudberries are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants.
Unlike most Rubus species, the cloudberry is dioecious, and fruit production by a female plant requires pollination from a male plant.
The cloudberry grows to 10–25 cm (4–10 in) high. The leaves alternate between having 5 and 7 soft, handlike lobes on straight, branchless stalks. After pollination, the white (sometimes reddish-tipped) flowers form raspberry-sized aggregate fruits which are more plentiful in wooded rather than sun-exposed habitats. Consisting of between 5 and 25 drupelets, each fruit is initially pale red, ripening into an amber color in early autumn.
Distribution and ecology
Cloudberries are a circumpolar boreal plant, occurring naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere from 78°N, south to about 55°N, and are scattered south to 44°N mainly in mountainous areas and moorlands. In Europe, they grow in the Nordic countries but are rare in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). They occur across northern Russia east towards the Pacific Ocean as far south as Japan. Due to peatland drainage and peat exploitation, they are considered endangered and are under legal protection in Germany’s Weser and Elbe valleys, and at isolated sites in the English Pennines and Scottish Highlands. A single, fragile site exists in the Sperrin Mountains of Northern Ireland.
In North America, cloudberries grow wild across Greenland, most of northern Canada, Alaska, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York.
Wide distribution occurs due to the excretion of the indigestible seeds by birds and mammals. Further distribution arises through its rhizomes, which are up to 10 m (33 ft) long and grow about 10–15 cm (4–6 in) below the soil surface, developing extensive and dense berry patches. Cuttings of these taken in May or August are successful in producing a genetic clone of the parent plant. The cloudberry grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows, tundra and elevations of 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) above sea level in Norway, requiring acidic ground (between 3.5 and 5 pH).
Cloudberry leaves are food for caterpillars of several Lepidoptera species. The moth Coleophora thulea has no other known food plants. See also List of Lepidoptera that feed on Rubus.
Cultivation
Despite great demand as a delicacy (particularly in Sweden, Norway and Finland) the cloudberry is not widely cultivated and is primarily a wild plant. Wholesale prices vary widely based on the size of the yearly harvest, but cloudberries have gone for as little as €10/kg (in 2004).
Since the middle of the 1990s, however, the species has formed part of a multinational research project. Beginning in 2002, selected cultivars have been available to farmers, notably ‘Apolto’ (male), ‘Fjellgull’ (female) and ‘Fjordgull’ (female). The cloudberry can be cultivated in Arctic areas where few other crops are possible, for example along the northern coast of Norway.
Uses
When ripe, cloudberry fruits are golden-yellow, soft and juicy, and are rich in vitamin C. When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. When over-ripe, they have a creamy texture somewhat like yogurt and a sweet flavor. They are often made into jams, juices, tarts, and liqueurs. In Finland, the berries are eaten with heated leipäjuusto (a local cheese; the name translates to “bread-cheese”), as well as cream and sugar. In Sweden, cloudberries (hjortron) and cloudberry jam are used as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, and waffles. In Norway, they are often mixed with whipped cream and sugar to be served as a dessert called multekrem (cloudberry cream), as a jam or as an ingredient in homemade ice cream. Cloudberry yoghurt—molte- or multeyoughurt—is a supermarket item in Norway.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, cloudberries are used to make “bakeapple pie” or jam. Arctic Yup’ik mix the berries with seal oil, reindeer or caribou fat (which is diced and made fluffy with seal oil) and sugar to make “Eskimo ice cream” or akutaq. The recipes vary by region. Along the Yukon and Kuskokwim River areas, white fish (pike) along with shortening and sugar are used. The berries are an important traditional food resource for the Yup’ik.
Due to its high vitamin C content, the berry is valued both by Nordic seafarers and Northern indigenous peoples. Its polyphenol content, including flavonoid compounds such as ellagic acid, appears to naturally preserve food preparations of the berries. Cloudberries can be preserved in their own juice without added sugar, if stored cool.
Extract of cloudberries is also used in cosmetics such as shower gels, hand creams and body lotions.
Nutrients and phytochemicals
Cloudberries are rich in vitamin C and ellagic acid, citric acid, malic acid, α-tocopherol, anthocyanins and the provitamin A carotenoid, β-carotene in contents which differ across regions of Finland due to sunlight exposure, rainfall or temperature. The ellagitannins lambertianin C and sanguiin H-6 are also present. Genotype of cloudberry variants may also affect polyphenol composition, particularly for ellagitannins, sanguiin H-6, anthocyanins and quercetin.
Polyphenol extracts from cloudberries have improved storage properties when microencapsulated using maltodextrin DE5-8. At least 14 volatile compounds, including vanillin, account for the aroma of cloudberries.
