The Arctic dessert — golden cloudberries, foraged in the brief tundra summer, lightly sweetened and spooned over softly whipped cream. Tart, honeyed, and apricot-like; the prized wild fruit of the far north.
Cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus), foraged across the Arctic tundra, are the prized berry of Greenland and the Nordic north, classically served with cream.
Spoon up cloudberries and cream and the berries are soft, golden, and honeyed-tart, like a cross between apricot and raspberry, against the cool, barely-sweet whipped cream. Bite: a bright tartness blooming into mellow honeyed fruit, the cream rounding it into pure Arctic luxury. The taste of the short, intense northern summer.
Warming half the berries releases their juice into a quick compote while the reserved whole berries keep texture and fresh aroma. The unsweetened-to-barely-sweet cream is the foil the high-acid, honeyed cloudberry needs — a classic Nordic-Arctic pairing.
Variations
With a meringue (cloudberry fool). Over pancakes. With skyr. Frozen. With a dash of liqueur. On its own.
On the Palate
Where Cloudberries with Cream sits in the Greenlandic flavor cloud
Warm only half the berries into a loose compote and leave the rest whole, so you get both saucy juice and fresh popping texture in one glass.
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · 15 min active + 5 min waiting
- 15 min
Pick over 300 g cloudberries, reserving the best whole.
- 24 min
Gently warm half the berries with a spoon of sugar until juicy.
Watch outWarm gently just until the berries slump and release juice; you want them softened, not boiling to jam.
- 33 min
Crush lightly into a loose compote and cool.
- 43 min
Whip cream to soft peaks with a little sugar.
Watch outStop whipping the moment the cream holds a soft peak that folds back on itself.
- 52 min
Spoon the cream into glasses.
- 62 min
Top with the compote and the reserved whole berries.
- 71 min
Serve cold.
