As I was eating a handful of bringebær (raspberries) this morning with my frokost, I reminisced about delicious Norwegian bær. To this day I have yet eat better bær than those I have eaten in Norway.  Whether you buy them in the matbutikk or plukke dem selv (pick them yourself), they are absolutely superb.  You can buy or find and pick jordbær (strawberries), blåbær (blueberries), bringebær, lingonberries, and multebær (cloudberries), to name the most popular.  The other great thing is that they are not super expensive!  But most importantly, they are full of smak (taste-flavor)!  Because fruit matures more slowly in cold climates, the volume of berries is fairly low, but the flavor is very intense.

Bær are full of vitamins, calcium, magnesium, foliate, potassium and even photochemical as well as flavonoids that may help to prevent some forms of cancer and prevent bladder infections. The blue and red pigments that give berries their beautiful colors are also good for your health.

In Norway, bær are very common to eat on their own.  They are also quite common in desserts and as part of a sauce for meat.  My favorite way to eat them is right after I pick them:)  It is so satisfying to go out into the woods or up into the mountains to plukke bær and eat them on the spot.  And in fact, a regulation is being proposed in Northern Norway that would make it illegal to possess multebær in their homes.  If this regulation passes, those picking multebær will have to eat them on the spot.  See article written in Norwegian in the newspaper Nordlys here for more information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsUaxFEzkiY

This is a really sweet video of two young Norwegian boys out picking berries.

I don´t know about where you are, but although it is very redundant, I will keep complaining about the cold spring here in MN.  I have to think about bær and other spring and summerlike things in order to not fall back into winter seasonal depression… 🙂