Cloudberry

Name: Cloudberry, also called bakeapple or bakeberry (Rubus chamaemorus).

Description

Cloudberry is a low, creeping perennial native to Arctic and subarctic regions across the north temperate zone, spreading by a rootlike underground stem rather than by canes. Unlike most of its bramble relatives, individual plants are either male or female, and only the female plants bear fruit — a single amber-to-yellow berry, technically an aggregate of drupelets much like a raspberry, ripening atop a short stalk from a white flower.

Inuit and Sámi communities have long gathered cloudberries in autumn and frozen them for winter use, and the fruit remains a prized seasonal crop across northern Scandinavia, where it is sold fresh in local markets and made into preserves, tarts, and liqueurs such as Finland's lakka. Because the plant grows only in cold, boggy, undisturbed terrain and resists cultivation, nearly all cloudberries on the market are still wild-harvested rather than farmed.

Main nutrition value

Per 100g, raw cloudberries:

Cloudberries are outstanding for vitamin C — at 158mg per 100g, well above an equal weight of oranges — and also supply more protein than most berries.

How best to be consumed

Cloudberries are traditionally eaten fresh with cream or sugar during their brief autumn season, or frozen whole to preserve them through winter, which keeps most of their vitamin C intact. They also cook down well into jam and preserves, and their juice is distilled or steeped into Nordic liqueurs.

Overconsumption could cause…

Cloudberries carry no unusual risks in ordinary amounts beyond the mild stomach upset that can come from eating a large quantity of any tart, fibrous fruit at once. Because they are still largely wild-foraged, the main practical caution is making sure of correct identification when picking them yourself, rather than anything about the fruit's nutrition.

GroupsBerriesFresh

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U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central — Cloudberries, raw (Alaska Native) (FDC ID 169802), 100g portion: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169802/nutrients Encyclopaedia Britannica — Cloudberry: https://www.britannica.com/plant/cloudberry