FRUITS IN FINLAND

[Lazenca]

HI! I'd like to know If Finland produces any kind of fruit, maybe strawberries, apples, pears, mango, etc... xD tehehe something like that...Or If Finland imports fruit from other countries...tehehe

[EP]

Apples, plums, cherries – but plums and cherries only in the south. Lots of strawberries and cranberries. And then there are blueberries, lingonberries and cloudberries that are not grown, they grow in the forests and swamps.

Everything else is imported: oranges, lemons and limes, melons, mangoes, peaches, kiwis, pineapples and so on.

[Jukka Aho]

HI! I'd like to know If Finland produces any kind of fruit, maybe strawberries, apples, pears, mango, etc...

Apples, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries, sea-buckthorns, blueberries, cowberries (lingonberries), cloudberries, crowberries, rowan berries... (did I miss anything?)

Or If Finland imports fruit from other countries...

Bananas, oranges, etc. are imported, of course.

[FinnGuyHelsinki]

[quote="EP"]And then there are blueberries, lingonberries and cloudberries that are not grown, they grow in the forests and swamps.[/quote]

If I'm not mistaken the variety that grows wild in Finland is bilberry (as opposed to blueberry). There's no word in Finnish to make that distinction, though, or at least I'm not aware of what it might be. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry .

[EP]

It is bilberry in British English, blueberry in American English.

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

[Mölkky-Fan]

It is bilberry in British English, blueberry in American English.

I am not sure you are correct here, a bilberry is different from a blueberry... in the UK you can buy both of them in supermarkets. Although universally called blueberries here, I think they are actually bilberries that you pick in the forest... although I might be completely wrong (my wife would say that is quite normal)

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

If you read the wiki link it says that blueberry and bilberry are slightly different. Bilberries are found in the UK & Finland, blueberries in the US and A.

"Bilberries...They are closely related to North American wild and cultivated blueberries and huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium....The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry and similar in taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of blue. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's is red or purple"

"Bilberries are extremely difficult to grow and are thus seldom cultivated. Fruits are mostly collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands, notably Finland , Sweden , Norway, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, parts of England, Alpine countries."

So you can argue about bilberries tonight and be right for a change...mind you, I somehow get the feeling, you'll still be wrong.

[CH]

If I'm not mistaken the variety that grows wild in Finland is bilberry (as opposed to blueberry). There's no word in Finnish to make that distinction, though, or at least I'm not aware of what it might be. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry .

Seems that you are right, according to the wikipedia pages for bilberry and blueberry. So, bilberry would be mustikka and blueberry pensasmustikka. They are related, but not the same. Pensasmustikka does grow here, but only as cultivated (I have 3 bushes growing in my garden).

[Mölkky-Fan]

If you read the wiki link it says that blueberry and bilberry are slightly different. Bilberries are found in the UK & Finland, blueberries in the US and A.

"Bilberries...They are closely related to North American wild and cultivated blueberries and huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium....The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry and similar in taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of blue. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's is red or purple"

"Bilberries are extremely difficult to grow and are thus seldom cultivated. Fruits are mostly collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands, notably Finland , Sweden , Norway, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, parts of England, Alpine countries."

So you can argue about bilberries tonight and be right for a change...mind you, I somehow get the feeling, you'll still be wrong.

OK, I am preparing myself for the mother of all bilberry arguments tonight (not sure if I can get her interested in a bilberry argument, but I can try)

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

Go for it!

Mind you, for me, a discussion about berries would be more interesting then listen to Ms Elvis harp on about her new interest in antique furniture!!!!

[Flottner]

I´m a student from Bolzano in Italy and we are doing a researsch about the apple production,consumption,import-export..ecc, in Finland and other countries! I wanted to ask if someone could tell me something about these things regarding Finland??!

[Rosamunda]

could tell me something about these things

...could you be a little more specific?

Apples grow in Finland, at least in the south of the country. There are dozens of different varieties, many of which are only grown in Finland. Many people grow apples in their own gardens. And there are also commercial orchards...

http://www.vohloistenpuutarha.fi/index.php?pinc=2
http://www.ciderberg.fi/tuotteet.html

I don't think Finnish apples are exported but they are certainly imported from all over the world: France, Italy, Poland, Chile, China etc etc

[Pursuivant]

There are a few orchards, one up even in Joensuu.

[Rob A.]

And then there are blueberries, lingonberries and cloudberries that are not grown, they grow in the forests and swamps.

If I'm not mistaken the variety that grows wild in Finland is bilberry (as opposed to blueberry). There's no word in Finnish to make that distinction, though, or at least I'm not aware of what it might be. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry .

Yes....that iooks about right....but discussions about the common names of berries almost always seem to degenerate into "jääräpäisyys". I tend to call all wild blueberries by their American name, "huckleberries"....because that was how I learned it as a kid....but even knowing that "bilberry", "blueberry", "huckleberry, "lingonberry",.....are all so very closely related doesn't seem to stop the arguments.....

Here's a Finnish link to the names of all sorts of fruits and berries...native and imported... in English, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Russian and "Scientific"....nicely done...hopefully it's "perfect"... Probably she/he got tired arguing about the names of things ...

Associated with this is a link the OP will probably find interesting:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/i_fruitf.htm

....fresh fruits (native and imported) used in Finnish cooking. Modern cooking from the look of it... Finland, like other northern places...UK, Canada, northern US... has a long history of developing apple varieties....some of the best of these have to be eaten or preserved almost as soon as they are picked....and they don't travel very well...not so convenient in the modern world...