Uses For Cloudberries
The ripe fruits are golden-yellow, soft and juicy, and are rich in vitamin C. When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. They are often made into jams, juices, tarts or liqueurs. In Finland the berries are eaten with “Leipäjuusto” (a local cheese) and much sugar. In Sweden, they are also used as an ice cream topping. In Canada, cloudberries are used to flavour a special beer. Canadians also use them for jam, but not on the same scale as Scandinavians.
Due to its high vitamin C content, the berry is valued both by Nordic seafarers and by Canadian Inuit as protection against scurvy. Its high benzoic acid content acts as a natural preservative. In addition, tea made from cloudberry leaves was used in ancient Scandinavian herbal medicine to cure urinary tract infections.
Rodrigues Winery in Newfoundland has made a delicious and award-winning wine and liqueur from these berries. Dogfish Head Brewery has made an Arctic Cloudberry Imperial Wheat beer, which was inspired by the cloudberry lambic dubbed Soleil de Minuit made by Brasserie Cantillon for the Akkurat pub in Stockholm.
