Cloudberry

A berry known to the Amerindians

The French word for cloudberry, plaquebière, comes from plat de bièvre meaning beaver food in old French. In Quebec, the cloudberry is commonly known as ronce petit-mûrier (little bramble), ronce des tourbières (peat bog bramble) or chicouté, which comes from the word shekuteu meaning ‘fire’ in the Amerindian language.

Cloudberry, an Arctic plant

Cloudberry is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Rosaceae family, which grows naturally in very cold climates. It can withstand temperatures below - 38°C. A perennial creeping plant, it measures between 10 and 30 cm. It has webbed leaves with five folioles and white flowers. As it is unisexual, flowers have either stamens or pistils but not both, which is not common in the Rosaceae family. It reproduces by rhizome multiplication (roots), a means of avoiding wasting too much energy on reproduction in cold parts of the world. After pollination, the flowers produce fruit made up of six to eight small, clustered drupes, resembling a raspberry. The colour of the fruit changes as it ripens. It starts out a greenish white, then becomes opaque red and finally translucent amber when ripe.

The cloudberry is cultivated in Northern Europe. It is planted on the edges of marshes, in wet meadows and in acidic soils. The shoot develops slowly like many Arctic plants. The leaves only unfurl in the third year. To bear fruit, the male and female plants must be distributed so as to facilitate pollination. Indeed, only one plant out of eleven produces flowers and only female plants bear fruit, which is hand-picked when ripe, generally in late July or early August.

Tangy taste

The fruit of the cloudberry has a tangy flavour and is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Cloudberries are consumed fresh (fruit, juice), cooked (jam, tarts, coulis) and as a liqueur. They contain high levels of benzoic acid, hence they are sometimes used as a natural preservative. Cloudberry leaves can be consumed in tea or as a seasoning in beer.