Photo from Wikipedia.
Cloudberries (also known as bakeapples in Canada) are a raspberry-like berry. Unlike raspberries, they're only red before they're ripe, and lighten to an orange/yellow color when they ripen. They primarily grow in colder climates, and are hearty enough plants to survive up to 78°N.
Wikipedia's map of where couldberries grow.
I'd love to tell you what cloudberries taste like, but, as you're about to read, I'm having a hard time finding any.
For more information on cloudberries, including photos and a picking guide, check out My Little Norway's Guide to Cloudberries.
Close Encounters with Cloudberries
My first encounter with this mysterious berry was in a grocery store in Longyearbyen. I came across Arctic Candies while browsing the candy aisle for something cheap. They come in many flavors, one of which is cloudberry. As I said, I was looking for something cheap. At about $6 per tin, I opted for just the cloudberry flavor rather than the 4-pack. They got lost in the bottom of my luggage for the remainder of the trip, and I didn't think much of it. Maybe if I had tried them right then and there I would have bought the 4-pack, but alas I tried them when I got home. They're delicious and sugar free. If you find them somewhere, try them!
Photo from LovelyPackage.com
Later, while we were near Jotunheimen National Park, we pulled off the road to do a little exploring. There was a small gravel parking area... good enough for us! After stretching and looking at some cool rocks, a few sheep came by. They definitely wanted food, and as luck would have it, someone had left a PILE of couldberries on the ground. So of course we tried to see if the sheep would eat them. (They did, and seemed to want more.) I wish I had thought, 'maybe this pile of berries in a parking lot means that someone was picking them nearby!'. But I didn't. :(
Mmmm, cloudberries.
I looked in a few grocery stores to see if I could find actual cloudberries, but they were nowhere to be found. Apparently cloudberries are mostly uncultivated. So if you want cloudberries, go cloudberry picking. Since cloudberries almost definitely won't grow in Colorado (As one website put it, they like mild sun for 22hrs/day. Colorado is intense sun for many fewer hours/day.), what are my options to try this elusive berry?
Cloudberry Products
Cloudberry Jam is available at Ikea.
Cloudberry Liquor. It goes by a number of names: Lakka, Lakkalikööri, Chicoutai. This one may be a bit of a challenge, but I'm up for it. Do you remember how I went to the ends of the earth* to find Kvint a few years ago? Psh, this should be easy! All of the countries (plural!) that produce this stuff are totally "real" countries! And one even borders the country I live in! Easy, right? We'll see. A few forums say that Astor Wines & Spirits in NYC may carry one of the Canadian varieties. For now, here are some varieties I found online. Let the search begin!
- Chicoutai Liqueur
- Lapponia Lakka by Pernod Ricard Finland Oy
- Lacenu
*"Ends of the earth" != Transnistria. "Ends of the earth" = many liquor stores in PA, NJ, and CO, and many more emails to the company themselves to find out where on earth they sell it in the US. Sadly, I didn't actually go to Transnistria.
Alternatively, I could try making my own liqueur from the jam. Hmm...
