Cloudberry

“The gold of the north” – hjortron from Norrland’s bogs is served with ice cream, waffles and ostkaka cheesecake in festive Swedish desserts.

The cloudberry is a low perennial 10–25 cm tall that spreads by long, creeping rhizomes, with a few kidney-shaped, wrinkled leaves on each shoot. It is dioecious – at the turn of June and July it bears single white flowers, but only female plants set fruit. The aggregate fruit ripens from red to amber yellow and is soft, juicy and has a distinctive, slightly winey flavour. It grows on raised bogs and in tundra, and yields depend heavily on spring frosts and the presence of pollinators.

Significance in the country

Cloudberries are among the most expensive wild berries in Sweden, and picking them in Norrbotten and Västerbotten can be an important source of income. Cloudberry jam (hjortronsylt) is served with ice cream, waffles and ostkaka – a traditional Swedish cheesecake.

Where it grows

On peat bogs and in the tundra of Norrland – most abundantly in Norrbotten and Västerbotten – as well as in Dalarna and Värmland; further south it is rare, on scattered raised bogs.

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