Multer - known in English as cloudberries (Latin Rubus chamaemorus) - are the small, amber-orange Arctic berry that ranks as Norway's most distinctive wild ingredient. They grow on bog and tundra above approximately 600 meters altitude in southern Norway, and at progressively lower altitudes the further north you go; the Finnmark plateau in the far north produces the highest commercial volume. The berries appear briefly in late July and August, are foraged by Norwegians who guard their family patches with a seriousness that approaches medieval property law, and are essentially unavailable as a fresh ingredient outside Scandinavia.
The flavour is genuinely difficult to describe in writing - somewhere between honey, apricot, salt and a faintly resinous mountain herb. They have an unusually high vitamin C content (roughly four times that of an orange by weight), a lighter fat content than most berries, and the ability to be preserved without sugar for unusually long periods due to their natural benzoic acid. The Sami food tradition of the far north has used multer as a key seasonal ingredient for at least a thousand years.
Commercial harvesting is heavily regulated. The Norwegian Outdoor Recreation Act allows individual foraging for personal use under allemannsretten, but commercial harvesting on someone else's land requires permission. In Finnmark county, additional rules apply that effectively reserve commercial multer harvest for residents. A good commercial multer at the Bergen fish market in season can sell for €40-60 per kilogram, which is genuinely Champagne-level pricing per gram.
International press coverage has been sustained. The Financial Times Weekend HTSI ran a long-form on the cloudberry tradition in 2022 calling them the most expensive berry in Europe. Saveur magazine, the New York Times Magazine and Bon Appétit have all done multer features. The classic Norwegian preparation is multer with whipped cream and a little sugar, served on the side of brunost on dark rye bread. We can arrange access to working multer harvest experiences through one of our food-led operators - the season is short, August is the right month.