Finnish Wild Blueberries
Dark all the way through
Cut a cultivated blueberry and the inside is pale green. Cut a Finnish bilberry and it is purple to the centre, which is why it stains everything it touches and why a slice of mustikkapiirakka, blueberry pie, comes out of the oven looking like it has been dyed. The taste is sharper and more concentrated than the supermarket berry.
It is also pressed into juice. The island tasting pours organic blueberry juice as its drink, which is about as direct a route from forest to glass as this city offers.
Picking and season
Everyman’s right means the forest floor is open to everyone, visitors included. You may walk into any forest and pick berries without asking a landowner. Berry season runs roughly July to September; cloudberries, the amber bog berry that goes with squeaky cheese, come earlier and last a shorter time.
In season, Market Square sells berries by the punnet among the orange tents. The island tasting takes the outdoor version further: a waterbus to Pihlajasaari, a guided walk over sand beach and rock shore, then reindeer, fish, breads and a dessert on the island, for a maximum of eight people. It runs in summer only, because the waterbus does not run in winter. The seasons page has the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Can tourists pick berries in Finland?
Yes. Everyman’s right lets anyone walk into a forest and pick wild berries and mushrooms without the landowner’s permission, and it applies to visitors as well as residents. Berry season runs roughly July to September, which the seasons page sets against the rest of the food year.
What is the difference between a bilberry and a blueberry?
The Finnish wild berry is a bilberry: smaller, darker and purple all the way through, rather than pale inside like the cultivated blueberry. It tastes sharper and stains everything. It shows up as juice on the island tasting and as pie almost everywhere.
What is mustikkapiirakka?
Blueberry pie, baked with the wild berry, which is why the filling comes out so dark. It belongs to the same everyday Finnish baking as the cinnamon bun rather than to any restaurant menu. The bun page covers the other half of the coffee-table repertoire.