Berry picking in Sweden: this is what you need to know

Today I will tell you all about berry picking in Sweden. One of the awesome things about Sweden in the summer is that you can pick delicious berries and better yet: put them straight into your mouth. Believe me, once you have tasted the real blueberries as they grow here in nature, you really don’t want the farmed berries anymore. In the summer and early autumn, picking berries is one of my favorite activities and I try to spend every free hour I have in nature and come home with at least one container full of berries. In this article I will tell you more about the most common berries in Sweden and what you need to know about them.

Hej hej! My name is Antonette and in 2023 I moved from The Netherlands to Sweden. On my website, you will only find firsthand information, written by a local. Enjoy! 

The most famous berry is of course the blueberry. Anyone looking for blueberries can come across them from mid-summer in the south. In central Sweden it takes a little longer before they are ready to be picked, usually from the end of July. In Swedish Lapland, blueberries are often only really tasty from August onwards. Blueberries are dark purple and mainly grow in the forest. Because they are quite fragile, I always pick them by hand instead of with a berry comb to ensure they are not damaged. I freeze most blueberries and use a small handful from the freezer every day for my smoothies or, together with lingons and cloudberries, for my fil (= a Swedish yoghurt).

It is useful to know that when frost has hit the ground, the blueberries dry out and are no longer tasty. So the important thing is to pick them before the first frost arrives.

You may notice that you see vans on the side of the road with Asian people near them. These are workers who are flown in to pick berries in the high season, they are often Nepalese. They pick kilos per hour with the berry combs and are paid per kilo.

The lingon, or lingon berries, are extremely healthy but not very tasty to eat straight from the plant. They are quite bitter and have significantly less flavor than blueberries. This does not mean that they have fewer vitamins. In fact, lingons are one of the healthiest berries you can eat. So feel free to put a handful in your mouth while picking.

The lingon berries are mainly found in open spaces in the forest and along the water and are ripe for picking from mid-August. Unlike the blueberry, you can also pick the lingon after it has frozen. If the latter, they are especially good for making juice. In addition, lingons are often used in sylt (a type of jam) with meat dishes. Lingons can easily be picked with a comb, which makes picking lingonberries in Sweden a lot less time-consuming than blueberries.

My favorite berry to pick is the cloudberry. This yellow berry is a lot rarer than the previously mentioned berries and very special: this is the only berry in the world that cannot be grown. A box of cloudberries is therefore highly priced, because of the amount of work involved in picking them. The cloudberry looks like a yellow raspberry and must be picked manually. You will only find it in swamp areas and mainly in the north of Sweden. The picking period is very short: from early to mid-August. Where I live (Swedish Lapland) the cloudberry is the first berry of the season to be picked and for many it is a real treat to find a container or two. Moreover, they are extremely healthy, I also add some of this berry to my smoothie or yogurt every day.

A berry that is not picked very often is the blackcurrant. They have little taste and they are not very tasty to eat straight away. What they are best known for is the juice that comes out of them, which is why they are mainly used. You often find blackcurrants near blueberries, but they are a lot smaller and firmer than blueberries.

Don’t be surprised if you can just pick raspberries in nature, especially in areas where there are reeds. The raspberry tastes great but is a lot smaller than we know from the supermarket. To find it you have to be a bit lucky, so far I have only come across two places to pick them.

According to the Swedish right of public access, everyone is allowed to freely pick berries in Swedish nature. Please take into account private land (this is indicated) and the associated rules of the right of public access. Do not leave any waste or traces behind and treat nature with respect.

No, when you go picking berries in Sweden you don’t have to wash them before eating them. I’ve never done this before and neither do the locals I asked. However, if you would like to do this, you are of course free to do so because there are wild animals in Sweden, including many foxes. Please make your own choices in this.

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Hopefully you found this article about berry picking in Sweden useful and answered your questions. If you have any additions and/or suggestions, please let me know!

Do you want to read more? You may also like the following blogs:

• Where is Lapland located?
• Sweden’s most beautiful national parks
• Mosquitoes in Sweden: this is how I deal with them
• Free camping in Sweden? These are the rules!

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