Wild Sea Buckthorn Powder

What it is

Sea buckthorn does not taste like anything else. It is sharp, citrusy, almost tropical, and then it bites back. Nobody fakes this flavour because there is nothing to fake it with. This powder is made from wild Hippophaë rhamnoides, air-dried and ground into a fine golden-orange powder that turns whatever you put it in a warm amber colour. The orange is carotenoid pigment, the berry’s own.

The ingredients list is one word: sea buckthorn. 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

Sea buckthorn ripens in September. The berries grow in tight clusters on thorny branches, which is why hand-picking them is slow work. They are picked in the wild, air-dried at low temperature and ground. Packing happens in Nurmijärvi, Finland. The autumn berry season guide has more on the harvest and on what else ripens alongside it.

What it tastes like

Intense. Acidic and fruity, with a floral note that lingers. It works against the creaminess of oat milk, the richness of banana and the sweetness of mango. It works in savoury contexts too: a pinch in a vinaigrette and the whole dressing sharpens.

How to use it

One teaspoon in a glass of orange juice amplifies the citrus. In a smoothie with carrot and ginger it belongs completely. In plain warm water with honey it is sharp and warming at the same time, which sounds unlikely until you try it. Stir one to two teaspoons into porridge, yogurt or skyr, fold it into cake batter, or use it wherever you want an orange that comes from a fruit rather than a bottle. Start with one teaspoon; it is strong. It is one of the three powders in our Nordic Berry Starter Kit, if you want to try it next to bilberry and lingonberry.

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. Break the clump with a spoon; the flavour and the colour are unchanged.

Origin, food safety and shipping

The sea buckthorn berries 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.