The lingonberry is the small, firm, vividly red berry of a creeping evergreen dwarf shrub of the northern forests, tart and lightly bitter with a clean, almost cranberry-like bite. A staple of Nordic and boreal kitchens, it is rarely eaten raw by the handful and instead turns up cooked into the soft, barely-set "lingonberry jam" served alongside meatballs, game, pancakes and porridge.