# Cloudberries?



## Gypsy (Apr 25, 2004)

Has anyone grown/know where to buy Cloudberries? My wife is from Finland and I guess they are popular there. We would like to grow some here but cant find them anywhere.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I think they are a species of salmon berry. You might try looking under that name. Maine might just be cold enough to grow them. Possibly a nursery in Canada would be the place to look. Good luck!


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

Gypsy said:


> Has anyone grown/know where to buy Cloudberries? My wife is from Finland and I guess they are popular there. We would like to grow some here but cant find them anywhere.


The only thing I can think of is to go ahead and ask some of her family to send some. I like 'em too. I have freinds that live in sweden and thats the first Id ever heard of them but when I saw them it was like 'hey I've sene these before" don't know what the heck their called in america though *S*
Can you maybe find a nursery in alaska?
Good luck and sorry I couldn't help you folks more


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## cheryl-tx (Jan 3, 2005)

Gypsy said:


> Has anyone grown/know where to buy Cloudberries? My wife is from Finland and I guess they are popular there. We would like to grow some here but cant find them anywhere.


I hope you find a source, sorry I can't help. I do see it in my Finnish cookbooks. It says that mixed just right with sugar(The berry syrup), no speacial storage needed, it does not spoil. It also makes a good wine. 
Lots of Finnish folks in Minnesota/Wisconsin, maybe searcing that area.
I searched myself, sold as preserves in some stores like world markets.


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## AnnaS (Nov 29, 2003)

There are some for sale here:

http://www.ricecreekgardens.com/shade_plants/index2.html

They are under "rubus chamaemrus". Also called bakeapples and baked apple berry in Canada. 
Cloudberries are unknown here in mid-MN, which is Finn enough to still do the Sunday am radio church in Finnish.
Hei to your wife from a mongrel Finn, my grandma's family was from Kuhmoneimi in Oulu.


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## karsan (Feb 10, 2005)

AnnaS said:


> There are some for sale here:
> 
> http://www.ricecreekgardens.com/shade_plants/index2.html
> 
> ...



I am Swedish and cloudberries, rubus chamaemores, is indeed an important berry in Northern Scandinavia, which means close to the arctic circle, but go under different names in Sweden, Norway and Suomi (Finland). 

In Swedish it is "hjortron", if you contact a Scandinavian store. The jam is sold in all grocery stores here in the Stockholm area where they do not grow. Never heard of anybody cultivating them, though.

I looked them up in a botany book, and found out that male and female blossoms are on separate plants, and that they also grow in Northern North America. 

What everyone knows in Scandinavia is that they are low plants growing on bogs. (The site that suggests that you put them beside heather is not helpful, heather grows on dry land.) Cloudberries are red when unripe, yellow when ripe - useful knowledge if you against all odds succeed in growing some. Only one berry per plant, but the plant is perennial. You walk a lot when picking them. We have many large bogs. They contain lots of vitamin C and a natural preservative. Some people who have not grown up with them do not like their special flavor.

Sorry to be a killjoy, but I like to educate Americans about Scandinavia!


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## SkyOne (Mar 16, 2005)

They can also be found here http://www.hillkeep.ca or email [email protected]
Good luck


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## tooltime (Nov 16, 2003)

Does anyone have these growing successfully in their gardens? I always heard that it was extremely difficult to cultivate them.

I dug in a bog for my lingonberries, and they're doing well (MN-Zone 4), would they do well there? My lingonberries are in full sun, though.

If you want to get some cloudberry preserves, try www.northener.com. It's an online shop for Scandinavian products. We get some cloudberry jam for my Mom each year at Christmas.

I'm Norwegian, Irish and Sioux, but my Mom is 100% Norwegian.

Mange takk!


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## karsan (Feb 10, 2005)

Hi, about lingonberries and cloudberries,

Where did you get your lingonberries? Did you buy plants at a nursery? In recent years, lingonberries have started to be cultivated, with improved strains. Lingonberries grow wild all over Sweden, including the southern parts. They like sun and low pH soil, but rarely grow in wet bogs, although they often can be found right beside a wet spot. Plants can grow close together, so a small area sometimes can give a significant yield.

As for cloudberries, I have never seen them in nursery catalogues here. They have a lot more northern range. I am sure they like sunshine, preferable a low sun for 22 hours a day, as the grow so far north and on the open bogs (with sphagnum moss) without shade. I think you need a large bog to get more than few berries. And you need both male and female plants. So yes, I believe they are difficult to grow, and I never heard of anyone doing it.

Greetings from Stockholm! We have plenty of snow here, no digging in the garden yet! But I have sown my tomatoes indoors.
And in August-September I sure will pick some wild lingonberries in the woods as well as tomatoes in the greenhouse!


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## tooltime (Nov 16, 2003)

I planted the first in 1999, and have always ordered them from Jung Seed (A Wisconsin nursery). They were potted, and the North American (minus) variety.  I didn't know a whole lot about them, but was told to dig down about two feet, line the dug area with black plastic, and then fill in and add peat moss. We have pretty rich loamy soils here, so I put in a good shot of peat, some sand, a bit of wood chips and some dried cow manure from the feedlot. (That probably wasn't necessary, but it wasn't enough to burn them.) I started with 48 plants. That first year was a dry one here, so I had to carry a lot of water too them (even though I mulched them well) and about 35 plants survived. I planted another 96 the next year and most all of them made it. I should add they were expensive and it took a long time to dig those bogs by hand. I was ridiculed extensively by family and friends. I added another 60 or so in 2001-2002. 

I saw a few berries in 2002, a couple ice cream pails in 2003 (which was also a very dry year), but I got about 2 five gallon pails of them last year. Enough to make some jam and syrup. 

They say it takes 3-6 years to get an established stand, for me it was 4 years or so. We took some cuttings last June and had good luck; so we'll try that again. I also read that once well-established, you should mow down the bed when dormant to get thicker growth and higher yields. I'm going to try that on a couple of the plots this fall. I've also heard that they produce two crops, but we've never got that second crop. I guess are sunlight hours aren't long enough like farther north.

I admittedly was a little dumb and spendthrift on this project, so if anyone has some suggestions to do it better, I'd sure be all ears. I gather the whole bog digging thing wasn't necessary, but it was deep enough that it (+the sand) it was reasonably well-drained.

Edited to add: Have you ever waited to pick the wild lingonberries until after a couple frosts? I've heard they are less bitter then.


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## karsan (Feb 10, 2005)

hi Tooltime, I think you are doing very well. 

A second crop I have never seen nor heard of. I hope we are talking about the same lingonberries, evergreen leaves, small white-pink bell-like flowers in a cluster, bright red shiny berries, turns red on the sunny side first, size of a pea at the most, easy to pick from the plant, firm berry, round, white and juicy inside if you squeeze it. 

Do you find their taste bitter? I could call it tart but not bitter. Botanical name something like Vacchinnium ?? (I can look it up on monday)
After a frost they usually fall off the plant, in my experience. Try to put some in the freezer to see if you like the taste better. They have a natural preservative, so you need much less sugar to make preserves (at least the Scandinavian variety). Some people do not even cook them, just mix them thoroughly, raw with sugar. I use them in the traditional way as a relish or pickle with some particular dishes, they are never put on bread like jam. 

How do you use the syrup? Here the syrup mixed with water and ice is a summer drink. Or with vodka I think it is called Bear paw. 

I have no idea how to get the best yield when cultivating them. I just pick them when I find them - completely legal to do that with most wild berries growing a bit away from people's houses here.

It seems like Americans soon are more advanced with lingonberries than we are in Scandinavia. How did you get the idea to grow lingonberries? That's the name the Swedes brought to North America. They grow in Britain too, but are rare, there they are called red whortleberry or cowberry. Ever heard of those?


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## nickS (Apr 1, 2005)

if you need to know more about the cloudberry you can contact me by email. i'm from st.augustin quebec canada these berries are plentiful in our area if you want to buy some berries or jam we can supply


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