Nordic power food
Northern berries are the best source of polyphenols in Finland.
- The cold, Nordic winter keeps the forests clean and healthy.
- To protect themselves against the cold environment, Nordic berries create polyphenols with the help of the midnight sun during the short summer season.
- Berries ripen in clean, wild forests where they develop their intense and very unique flavour.
Many nutrients locate only in the skin and seeds of the berries. For this reason, it’s important to consume whole berries.
The northern habitat
The northern habitat is a small part of the world largely consisting of sea and mountainous terrain. Seventy per cent of the surface area of Finland consists of forests. These form most of the suitable substrate for berries growing in the wild; old forests that provide enough natural nutrients and pollinators, clean air and water, as well as trees living in symbiosis with the berries.
Part of folklore
As nourishment and natural medicine, berries are an important part of Finnish folklore. They are also a very important source of nourishment for many animals. For example, a bear will eat up to 1,000 kg (2,204 lbs) of berries for its protection and bodily reserves before hibernating for six to seven months.
Polyphenols
Polyphenols are plant metabolites that protect plants against things like various pathogens and harmful UV radiation from the sun. Therefore, plants form polyphenols to be their defence mechanisms. Polyphenols also contribute to plant colour and taste; for instance, bitterness. Indeed, you could say the darker the colour of the fruit or berry, the more polyphenol compounds it contains.
The more colour, the better
Berries contain plenty of polyphenols; the most important ones are anthocyanins and other flavonoids. Anthocyanins are water-soluble flavonoids that bring the berry its red, blue or black colour. The darker the berry, the more anthocyanins it contains. By comparison with highbush blueberries, wild bilberries contain four to five times as many flavonoids.
Berries
Wild Bilberry
The wild bilberry is a perennial dwarf shrub approximately 30 cm (11.81 in) high. It typically grows in coniferous forests. Some of its substrates include slightly shady woods, northern slopes, the edges of clear-felled areas and the banks of forest ponds. The bilberry harvesting period lasts from the end of July to the beginning of September
Our products containing wild bilberries:
Lingonberry
The lingonberry is a perennial dwarf shrub approximately 5–30 cm (1.97–11.81 inches) high. It grows in the forest undergrowth. Typical substrates include dry, rather dry or fresh heaths. By comparison with other natural berries, the lingonberry produces the most bountiful harvest. The lingonberry harvesting period lasts from the beginning of August to the beginning of October.
Our products containing lingonberries:
Cranberry
The small cranberry is a low-growing dwarf shrub. Its berries are 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 inches) wide and globular or tear-drop shaped. The small cranberry blooms in June and July. The berries are red or dark purple in colour and tart in taste. The small cranberry grows in nutrient-poor fens and sloughs. The berries can be harvested from the end of September until snowfall. Small cranberries contain polyphenols but also Vitamins A, C and K. These hard-skinned berries are a good source of fibre.
Our products containing cranberries:
Sea Buckthorn
The sea buckthorn is a shrub 0.5–3 metres (1.77–9.84 feet) high. Its berries are oblong drupes 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 inches) in length; succulent and yellow or amber in colour. The sea buckthorn grows the best on stony sand or gravel beaches. It demands plenty of sunlight to grow. The sea buckthorn harvest season begins in October; the berries are picked preferably after the first touches of frost.
Our products containing sea buckthorn berries:
Raspberry
The raspberry is a shrub 50–150 cm (19.69–59.06 inches) high with biennial stalks. The raspberry blooms in July and August, and its harvest season lasts from the beginning of August to the beginning of September. Raspberries are the most high-yielding natural berries. They grow in grove-like, fresh heaths, along the edges of ditches and forests as well as clear-felled areas and roadsides. Raspberries contain Vitamin C and folate. They are also a good source of dietary fibre.
Our products containing raspberries:
Blackcurrant
The blackcurrant is a shrub 1–1.5 m (3.28–4.92 feet) high. Its preferred habitats consist of brookside groves, river and stream banks of rivers and seaside bushes. The blackcurrant harvest matures in August.
Our products containing blackcurrants:
Strawberry
The strawberry is a herbaceous perennial that grows runners. Strawberries mature in early July.
Our products containing strawberries:
Cloudberry
The cloudberry is a herbaceous perennial 10–25 cm (3.94–9.84 inches) high. It blooms in June, and the berries mature at the end of July or the beginning of August. Ripe cloudberries are fragrant and succulent, amber in colour. The cloudberry grows in bogs throughout Finland.
Our products containing cloudberries:
FAQ
Whole berries, including the skin and seeds, in a form that is tasty and easy to enjoy right away or take along with you. Berrie corresponds with the four main trends of the food industry: it’s wholesome, it has good flavour, it’s easy to use, and part of vegetarian diet.
All the ingredients used in the preparation of the product are listed on the ingredients list by quantity in descending order. In addition to berries, the product contains berry and fruit purées and juices, water, sweetening apple extract to balance the acidity of the berries, citric fibre to give the product structure, as well as citric acid and potassium sorbate to ensure the product’s safety. Berrie has optimised the number of berries and terrific taste for each flavour. In other words, each kind of Berrie contains enough berries to achieve the best flavour.
Yes! Berrie provides an excellent way to get your kids to enjoy their daily berries.
We use berries from the Northern growth area and prefer domestic. in the Northern growth area, the wild berries are uniform in nutritional value. Availability determines the place of acquisition. The degree of domestication varies according to the harvest seasons.
We use clean high-quality raw ingredients and observe good hygiene and high-quality preparation methods in our production. Our production is FSSC-22000-certified. Rapid heating, the addition of only a small quantity of preservatives and the use of protective atmosphere ensure the shelf life of the product. The preservative used is potassium sorbate E202, which effectively prevents the growth of yeasts, moulds, and bacteria. A similar type of natural preservative is sorbic acid which is found in rowan berries.
Protective (or modified) atmosphere is used in food packages to improve the shelf life of the product. The modification lowers the amount of oxygen in order to slow down the growth of aerobic organisms and prevent oxidation reactions. The removed oxygen is replaced with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
It is eight months following completion of the product. The product can be stored at room temperature, but storing in a cool place maintains the product’s sensory characteristics. After opening, Berrie can be stored in a refrigerator for about a week.
Pasteurized apple extract made from apples, containing the naturally occurring sugars found in apples.
There are plenty of apples available for raw ingredients. It is grown everywhere, and it is very suitable for concentrating into extract. Apple extract does not contain any substance which may cause intolerance.
By legal definition, Berries do not contain any allergens. Citric fibre is pure fibre extracted from lemon peel, and it does not cause symptoms to persons with citrus allergy. It brings structure to the product and acts as a fibre supplement. The lemon juice used for the Wild Bilberry and Berrie +Fibre may cause intolerance symptoms to persons with serious citrus allergy. The apple sweetener does not cause intolerance symptoms. The apple sauce and apple juice used as ingredients for Sea Buckthorn and Berrie +Fibre may cause intolerance symptoms to persons with apple allergy. All Berries are milk-free, lactose-free and gluten-free.
Berrie+ Fiber contains this soluble fibre, derived from maize. One container of 100ml contains more fibre than a bowlful of oatmeal porridge. Read more: http://www.fibersol.com/products/fibersol-2/.
Berries are completely of vegetal origin and therefore are suitable for vegans.
There is a plastic lid with an opening in Berrie to ease the on-the-go consumption. It is easy to drink from the cup e.g., when walking. You can also hand it to small children as you do not need to worry about it spilling all over. If you have the feeling that some Berrie is left under the lid, you can pour a little of water into the cup and enjoy the rest of the Berrie.
The lid of the Berrie container is aluminium, which is recycled as metal. The container has two layers: the cardboard layer can be teared off along the tear line and recycled as cardboard; the plastic container and lid belong to plastic recycling. If you don’t have a recycling bin for plastic, it can be recycled as burnable waste. The cardboard in the 3-litre bag-in-box can be recycled as cardboard, and the bag itself goes to plastic recycling.
When it comes to the wild berries of the Nordic forests, the only sustainable and cost-effective method of picking is by hand. This way, we can ensure the high quality of the berries and the preservation of nature. Developing a mechanical picking method would require vast research and advancement of technology before it would be sustainably feasible on a large scale due to remote forests in hard-to-reach, wild, and delicate terrain.
In Finland, two companies are currently under investigation for unfair activity, but the investigation is still ongoing and no one has been found guilty yet. We have zero tolerance for employee abuse. We acquire our raw ingredients strictly from companies that disclose their personnel matters
"In production, the berries get squashed, after which they take up “less space”: the shell and seeds break, and the containing water is released. We also add some water. The amount of additional water needed depends on the berry, since some berries contain more water than others. For example, fresh wild bilberries are about 80% water. So to answer the question, nothing is removed, and for instance, there are 140 whole berries in Wild Bilberry Berrie container with every part of the berry included (counted amount: 139)."
Freight companies see Berrie containers as space-consuming and heavy. Our goal is to offer a product along with a distribution model where consumers around the world have the possibility to obtain unique Nordic wild berries effortlessly and as cost-effective as possible. When consumers purchase Berrie products directly from our factory, the price won’t be inflated by additional costs and margins of intermediaries, and no additional freight or storage will be used. All in all, when you purchase from our online shop, you will get the product for the most competitive price, fast, and environmentally friendly. The remaining freight charge consists of the price for external courier service, dictated by the weight and volume. Because Berrie has a shelf life of multiple months at room temperature, it is recommended to order larger quantities at once to save on freight charges. We also have limits for free freight. More information can be found on the Shipping information page at the bottom of the site.