Just like humans, bears are omnivores. They lumber around eating practically all their waking hours, from when they emerge from their den in April until it’s time to crawl back in during late autumn. Almost half of the food bears consume is – berries!
Hand on heart, how many berries do you eat?
The fact that such a large animal as the bear eats significantly more berries, plants, and ants than meat says a lot about their nutritional value. We’ll leave the ants aside for now; it’s enough to note that ants are an excellent source of protein. But enough about that.
For many, berries are still mostly a fresh dessert accompaniment, but in the north, cloudberries, lingonberries, and blueberries have always been a natural part of the diet.
The midnight sun boosts the berries
The Arctic summer is short, and the sun shines practically around the clock for several months. Although the growing season passes quickly, the number of growing hours is high. The midnight sun’s light “fertilizes” and everything grows at rocket speed. Plants grow taller, colors become more intense. The berries become sweeter, more aromatic, and richer in vitamins. The bright nights barely give any breathing space; everything must hurry to bloom and bear fruit before frost returns.
Karin creates taste sensations
Karin Nordström at Jokkmokksbär runs a small-scale berry processing business. Besides pressing berries for juices, she uses the remains to make delicious jams, marmalades, syrups, and other treats. She has always been fascinated by traditional crafts, and from there, the step to food craftsmanship wasn’t far.
–I can totally geek out. I think it’s about doing something visible with your hands, being able to create and constantly develop new things, says Karin.
It’s not wrong to speak of taste sensations. Her Messaure mulled wine made from crowberries and raspberries has won gold in the Swedish Championship in Food Craftsmanship. So has her cloudberry marmalade.
The golden cloudberry
Cloudberries are the gold of the marshlands. The berries only grow in the north and are picked from marshes from mid-July and a month forward. But cloudberry picking is sweaty work. Walking in wet marshes is no joke on a humid midsummer day when the mosquito population is at its absolute peak. Nor is it certain that the bucket will be filled. If early summer has been cold, so the pollinating insects haven’t started in time, or if frost has nipped the sensitive cloudberry flowers, the cloudberry harvest might fail completely.
Cloudberries in all forms are Jokkmokksbär’s bestseller.
–In Sweden, people consider the cloudberry to be the queen of berries, while people from abroad aren’t as fond of it. Often it’s the seeds they don’t like, Karin explains.
In the past, these tart and tasty berries were thought to stop internal bleeding and cure various diseases like scurvy, consumption, and kidney ailments. Today, it’s proven that the berries contain numerous vitamins, trace elements, and other nutrients. Cloudberries have three times more vitamin C than oranges, vitamins B and E, and fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6. They’re also rich in fiber, as the berries consist of several compound stone fruits.
The fact that cloudberries are now considered to strengthen the immune system and slow aging is reason enough to venture out onto the cloudberry marsh. Or perhaps it’s enough that warm cloudberries with homemade vanilla ice cream, or with a melting piece of camembert, taste heavenly good. Either way, if you come across a cloudberry marsh during your hike, do like the bear – eat until you’re stuffed.
The sweet, ingratiating blueberry
Blueberries grow throughout Sweden but are naturally more nutritious and vitamin-rich in the north. Blueberries are also attributed with numerous positive health effects. But above all, it’s a sweet and delicious berry.
–I have a juice made from 100 percent blueberries that I haven’t added any sugar to at all. In all my products, I use as few additives as possible, says Karin.
The settlers taught the Sami to ferment blueberry drink. If you notice glass bottles in kitchen windows at people’s homes with blueberries that alternately sink to the bottom and float up, you can be sure that in that house they will be drinking “blueberry wine” for Christmas. A wonderfully red-blue cider-like drink, sweet and refreshing at the same time.
Blueberries are truly candy, both in natural and processed form.
The flavonoids in blueberries are believed to protect against both diabetes and Alzheimer’s and are also said to be good for eyesight. It’s commonly known that blueberry soup, blueberry juice, and dried blueberries are a tried-and-tested home remedy for stomach illness. However, if you consume large amounts of fresh blueberries, it will instead speed up your digestion. But who can really resist when the forest glows blue with sun-ripened berries?
Nordic crowberry – a vitamin and fiber-rich berry
If you’ve tasted crowberries, you’ve likely wrinkled your nose and maybe even spat them out. There’s no denying that crowberries aren’t the tastiest berry. The taste is somewhat astringent, not to say bitter, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t healthy. It’s a shame that this healthy berry has been overshadowed.
–People have primarily picked blueberries because they taste better. But we know that indigenous people in polar regions used crowberries. Now it feels exciting to find new uses that let the berry shine. My philosophy is that it should be both tasty and healthy, and I therefore often mix different berries because this enhances their health benefits, says Karin.
Her mulled wine with crowberries has, as mentioned before, won gold. She also mixes crowberries with lingonberries to make a nectar that’s perfectly suited as a mealtime drink.
Crowberries belong to the heather plant family and can be picked from August throughout the winter. Bears eat lots of crowberries before winter hibernation. Like blueberries, crowberries are packed with antioxidants. Crowberries are particularly rich in the pigment anthocyanin, which is a polyphenol with good health properties. According to research, the substance has anti-inflammatory effects and positively impacts vision, brain, heart, and blood vessels.
Crowberries work excellently in cooking and baking. They also contain a lot of water and are therefore good thirst quenchers, which is clever for those hiking in forests and fields. But you should eat them in moderation, as the berry can have a laxative effect.
–It’s fun to work with crowberries. Many don’t even know what they are, Karin notes.
Lingonberry – a tart super berry
In Swedish homes, lingonberry jam is practically a staple, it goes with practically everything. The red berries grow in coniferous forests and especially in open areas, like clearings. Lingonberries are frost-resistant, the later in the season, the sweeter they become, perhaps best after the first frost. Due to their high benzoic acid content, the berry is very durable. Even last year’s lingonberries that thaw out on pine heaths taste tart and good.
Unsweetened lingonberries have long been used in folk medicine, effective against urinary tract infections among other things. In the past, pharmacies sold lingonberries as fever-reducing medicine.
Many people aren’t used to eating lingonberries in their natural or frozen form, but once they get used to the slightly tart taste, they often find it good, says Karin.
Lingonberries are now considered Sweden’s own native super berry. More than a hundred years ago, diabetics were advised to eat half a kilogram of lingonberries daily. Now Swedish obesity and diabetes research shows that fatty food combined with lingonberries leads to less weight gain, lower blood sugar levels, lower inflammation in the body, less insulin resistance, and better cholesterol and fat levels in the liver. The control group – mice it should be added – that received the trendy Brazilian açai berry gained the most weight and had high fat levels in the liver.
From berries to vinegar
What now occupies Karin’s mind and experimental desire is creating a vinegar from forest berries.
–First I have to make a wine, where I then convert the alcohol into acetic acid. It’s a really exciting process to create vinegar, Karin explains.
–Vinegar is useful not only in cooking and for dressings but also as a flavoring in chocolate or in marmalades. And it’s healthy too, if it’s well made.
Aging the vinegar into balsamic takes even longer, but that doesn’t discourage Karin.
–I’ve discovered a whole world! Right now I’m working as much as possible to figure out how to create more good products. During early summer 2017, my first vinegar will be ready. If it’s good enough, I’ll launch it at a food fair in Stockholm.
So, in summary: When the forests are once again packed with berries containing protective bitter compounds, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, there’s absolutely no reason not to do like the bear.
Get out and eat, pick and stock up your winter supply!
Text: Iréne Lundström Photo: Maria Klang