Cloudberry ✦

Plaquebière

What it is

It carries so much benzoic acid — a preservative in its own right — that northern households keep it raw in a sealed jar all winter, with neither sugar nor heat. Norway's right to roam stops at this one berry: in Troms and Finnmark a landowner may forbid picking on their ground, a rule written for no other fruit.

In the kitchen

Do not cook it — heat flattens the resinous top note that is the entire reason for it. Fold the berries whole through lightly whipped cream, or spoon them over an aged cheese and let the acidity do the cutting.

Goes with

Cream White sugar Vanilla Juniper berry Reindeer Honey

Same species

Blackberry Raspberry eau-de-vie Raspberry Raspberry vinegar

In season alongside

Mulberry Bergeron apricot Lingonberry Apricot Blackcurrant Blueberry

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