Lingonberry Powder

What it is

In Finland, the lingonberry is not exotic. It grows everywhere, it belongs on the table, and it has been part of Nordic cooking for centuries. Outside the Nordics you probably know it as the small, tart red berry served alongside meatballs. This is that berry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, wild-foraged, air-dried and ground into a fine, pale pink powder. The lingonberry is considerably more than a condiment, and our guide to what a lingonberry is makes the case.

The ingredients list is one word: lingonberry. 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

Lingonberries ripen late, from the end of August into October, when the bilberry season is already over. They are hand-picked in Finnish forests, air-dried at low temperature, and only then ground. Packing happens in Nurmijärvi, Finland. If you want to know what else is ripe at that time of year, read our autumn berry season guide.

What it tastes like

It does not taste like jam. Nothing is added to round off the edges, so the flavour is the raw berry: acidic, slightly astringent, with a tartness that is immediate and clean. It has a brightness that cuts through fat and sweetness equally well, which is why the Nordics have been putting it next to rich food for centuries.

How to use it

Stir one to two teaspoons into yogurt or skyr. Blend it into a smoothie with oat milk and apple. Use it in baking wherever a tart fruit note is needed: a cheesecake topping, a crumble, a glaze for roasted vegetables. Whisk it into a vinaigrette. In a sauce for meatballs or game it does the work of lingonberry jam. It tints what it touches pink, so it also works as a natural colour. Start with one teaspoon and taste; it is easy to add more.

Storage and clumping

Keep the bag sealed, in a cool, dry place, out of direct light. There are no anti-caking agents in this powder, no silicon dioxide, so in humid air it can clump. That is the natural fruit sugars at work, not a fault. Break the clump with a spoon; the flavour and the colour are unchanged.

Origin, food safety and shipping

The lingonberries 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.