Multekrem

The story

Multekrem, whipped cream folded with cloudberries (the fruit of an Arctic bramble), is considered a true delicacy of the north. The berries grow wild in cold bogs and mountain marshes across the north, from Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Russia, Canada, and Alaska, ripen for just a short spell in late summer, and are picked by hand, one berry at a time, because the plant does not take to large-scale cultivation. Thanks to that scarcity and the labor of the harvest, cloudberries are often called “Arctic gold” in Scandinavia, and in Sweden's Norrland region “Norrland's gold.” Multekrem is therefore traditionally saved for special occasions, and Christmas is exactly that kind of occasion: a dessert simple in its makeup (just cream and berries) but rich in its origins and in the story it carries. For families outside Norway, where fresh cloudberries are nearly impossible to find, many reach for a jar of imported cloudberry jam instead, which only confirms how much this berry has become a symbol of Norwegian identity, even in preserved form.