Freeze Dried Blueberry Powder

What it is

The same wild berry as our whole freeze-dried bilberries, in a different form. This powder is made entirely from wild-foraged Vaccinium myrtillus, the European wild bilberry, freeze-dried and then ground fine. It is not the cultivated highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) that most blueberry powders are made from. A wild bilberry is smaller and darker, with purple flesh all the way through, so the powder is deep violet rather than pale.

The ingredients list is one word: bilberry. No added sugar, no preservatives, no fillers, no anti-caking agents. Contains naturally occurring sugars. 100 g in a resealable doypack.

How it is made

The berries are hand-picked in Finnish forests from mid-July to early September. They are frozen after harvest, and the water is removed under vacuum at low temperature while they are still frozen. Only then are they ground. The berry is never cooked, which is the whole point of freeze-drying; we explain it in what freeze-drying is. Packing happens in Nurmijärvi, Finland.

What it tastes like

Concentrated and tart. This is the raw bilberry with the water taken out, so a little goes a long way. It is nothing like the mild, sugary blueberry powders sold in supplement shops. One teaspoon turns a bowl of yogurt deep violet. Two teaspoons in a smoothie and the colour is almost alarming, in a good way.

How to use it

Stir one to two teaspoons into porridge, overnight oats, kefir, yogurt or skyr. Blend it into a morning smoothie. Use it as a natural food colour in frosting, macarons or cheesecake batter. In baking, mix it in with the dry ingredients. For more ideas, and for how to tell a wild bilberry powder from a cultivated one, read how to use bilberry powder. If you would rather have the berries whole, see our whole freeze-dried bilberries.

Storage and clumping

It will clump. This is not a flaw. We do not add silicon dioxide or any other anti-caking agent to keep it artificially fluffy, so in humid air the natural fruit sugars pull in moisture and the powder packs together. Break the clump with a spoon; the flavour and the colour are unchanged. Keep the bag sealed, in a cool, dry place, out of direct light.

Origin, food safety and shipping

The bilberries are wild, hand-picked in Finnish forests under everyman’s right. Kylmä Co. is under Finnish food-safety supervision; the Oiva inspection report is published on this site.

They are not organic-certified.

Web-shop parcels go to Finland, the EU, Switzerland and the UK; trade orders ship worldwide, including Japan, China, Korea, Singapore and all Asian markets. Buying for a shop, café or kitchen? See the wholesale page: no minimum order, and free samples.