"Delicacy: usually a rare or expensive food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture."
For example, cloudberries are considered a delicacy - and the Norlii October 2021 Box had an extraordinary delicious Swedish cloudberry jam in it. Did you try it?
Now I want to dig a into the story about the berry often referred to in Scandinavia as the "forest's gold."
Cloudberry is a delicious golden-colored berry with a form and substance similar to the raspberry or blackberry. It grows in the wild in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. It is most common in the Northern regions, but you can also find cloudberries on a nature hike further south. In Canada, they're found in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The berries are sometimes referred to as the 'forest's gold,' partly because of the color, partly because they can be hard to find, and when you find a good place to pick them, you do not share the location! Even when you find a good spot, cloudberries are not easily foraged; they don't grow just anywhere. They're found only at high altitudes, in boggy conditions that have insulating snows in the wintertime to protect and nourish them. The hard-to-navigate terrain combined with the challenge of few berries per square foot also means a high demand (and price!) globally; the definition of a delicacy.
Cloudberries are found in the Nordics only at high altitudes, in boggy conditions that have insulating snows in the wintertime to protect and nourish them.
Some people find cloudberries are at their most delicious, eaten fresh off the plant, discovering a spot on a late August hike. But with its delicate and unique taste, rich in vitamin C, cloudberry is popular in juices, jams, marmalades, tarts. Some use them to make liqueurs. My Norwegian cousin's family serves cloudberry pudding for their traditional Christmas dinner.
I'm delighted that with Dream of Sweden as our vendor, it became possible to include the Swedish-produced Cloudberry jam with the Norlii Box in our 2021 October edition. It is fun to bring hard-to-find Scandinavian products to members of the Norlii home decor subscription box.
Learn more about Norlii Box and Scandinavian living here