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Lingonberry
Vaccinium vitis-idaea · Berry
40 pairings
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.
Picking a good onedrag
Hard, glossy, just rakedDull, soft, weeping
Shop firmFullest flavour, still firm. Raw-stirred with sugar for lingonsylt, or crushed and strained for cordial.Everyday best
ColourRed with a paler shaded cheek
The squeezeFirm, gives a little under the thumb
Stem end and litterA few short green stems still attached
Smell in the tubFaintly sharp held close
What to look for, from hard, glossy, just raked to dull, soft, weeping.
What one gives you
98%
Usable yield
0.26 g · stems and soft ones out
0.27 g
Typical weight
one specimen
70%
Juice yield
700 ml a kilo on a mill press
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 6× longer than the counter.
Humidity
90-95%
Damp air, dry skin. Free water sitting on the fruit is what starts grey mould, so never wash them before storing.
Airflow
Vented, never sealed damp
A vented punnet, or a box with the lid set askew. Sealed warm, condensation beads on the skins and Botrytis takes the wet ones.
No after-ripening, and no rate on record
Non-climacteric: nothing in the fruit bowl improves them, and no ethylene damage is on record for the berry. Colour deepens in the cold; the sugar does not.