Early cloudberry season
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After a very warm spring, cloudberries can already be harvested in the wilderness as far north as Finnmark County in Norway. Further south, like in Oulu region and southern Lapland in Finland, the season started last week.
For many, cloudberries are the magic symbol of the north. Exclusive, mysterious and if the Arctic has a “taste”, it is the taste of cloudberries.
Locals have their secret swamps; which locations are passed down from generation to generation. In Finnmark, one legendary story tells about an old woman who broke her leg while picking cloudberries. True or not; the story says instead of revealing the location of her swamp, she hobbled several kilometres away before her friends were allowed to call in a SAR-helicopter to take her to hospital.
This year’s cloudberry season seems to be better off than normal as well. In addition to an unusual early and warm spring, enough rainfall and insects seems to help the ripening.