Bright and beautiful berries
Finland’s forests are bursting with bountiful harvests of nutritious wild blueberries, lingonberres and cloudberries, just waiting to be picked.
Wild berries have been a vital part of the diets of northern peoples since time immemorial. In Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala, the beautiful Maiden of the North, spurning her suitor, stresses the importance of harvesting berries for the coming winter: “Never shall I, in my life-time, Say farewell to maiden freedom, Nor to summer cares and labors, Lest the harvest be ungarnered, Lest the berries be ungathered, Lest the song-birds leave the forest, Lest the mermaids leave the waters, Lest I sing with them no longer.”Finns have always used berries to make a variety of juices, jams and desserts – and to ease ailments from colds to stomach disorders. Climatic conditions and the region’s vast coniferous forests are ideal for these miniature fruits. This natural bounty can be harvested freely even in the forests on the fringes of Finland’s largest cities.
Everyone can share in the spoils, since Finland’s liberal rights of access to the land give everyone the right to roam the forests and pick these fruits of the forest, no matter who owns the land. But many berries still remain unpicked every year.
Even in low-yield years about a hundred kilos of berries ripen out in the great outdoors for every inhabitant, but it has been estimated that only between three and ten percent of the total potential harvests of blueberries and lingonberries are gathered. Due to a shortage of willing local pickers, workers are brought in from as far away as Thailand and Vietnam to reap the harvest.
By Tiia Lappalainen
Photos Kreetta Järvenpää
