Moroška

Rubus chamaemorus, the cloudberry, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Rubus, which also includes blackberries and raspberries. It belongs to the Rosaceae family. A herbaceous perennial, it produces amber-coloured fruit similar in structure to the blackberry. Each fruit consists of between five and 25 drupelets and is initially pale red, ripening into an amber colour in early autumn. Unlike most Rubus species, the cloudberry is dioecious, so fruit production by a female plant requires pollination from a male plant.

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Habitat and Distribution

Cloudberries are a circumpolar boreal plant, occurring naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere from 78°N, south to about 55°N. The cloudberry grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows and tundra, and requires acidic ground between 3.5 and 5.0 pH. The plant grows 10-25 centimetres high, and its short stems are unbranched. Wide distribution occurs due to the excretion of the indigestible seeds by birds and mammals. Cloudberries grow in the wild and are not cultivated on a commercial scale. In Arctic and subarctic regions, cloudberries appear for just a few weeks in the summertime.

Chemistry

Cloudberries are rich in vitamin C, citric acid, malic acid, α-tocopherol, anthocyanins and β-carotene, a provitamin A carotenoid. Their contents differ across regions of Finland due to sunlight exposure, rainfall and temperature. The main polyphenols in cloudberries are ellagitannins. Cloudberry and especially its seeds are a major source of ellagitannins such as ellagic acid and gallic acid. The ellagitannins lambertianin C and sanguiin H-6 are also present. At least 14 volatile compounds, including vanillin, account for the aroma of cloudberries.

Taste and Culinary Use

When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. They are often made into jams, juices and tarts. In Norway they are often mixed with whipped cream and sugar and served as a dessert called moltekrem. In Finland the berries are eaten with heated leipäjuusto, a local cheese. Cloudberries can be preserved in their own juice without added sugar, if stored cool. The berries are an important traditional food resource for Indigenous people in the Arctic, including the Yup'ik, Inuit and Sami. Because the berries have large seeds that must be removed, processing the fruit gives a yield of less than 50 percent.

Drinks and Seed Oil

In the Nordic countries, traditional liqueurs such as the Finnish lakkalikööri are made from cloudberry and have a strong taste and high sugar content. In Sweden a cloudberry-flavoured gin is produced in limited quantities, and cloudberry is also used to flavour akvavit. In northeastern Quebec a cloudberry liqueur called chicoutai is made.

Name

A 1637 text traces the name cloud-berry to old Lancashire dialect, where a plant growing at the very top of a hill was said to come out of the clouds.

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Related: Acai Berry · Aldehyde C 16 Strawberry · Ashberry · Barberry · Bearberry · Blackberry · Blueberry · Boysenberry