How did these Norwegian berries end up in Hull, Newcastle, and London 100 years ago?
A century ago, Norwegian bilberries were used for much more than squash and jam.
Today, blueberries in Norway are mostly gathered for personal use. Around one hundred years ago, however, Norway began exporting them abroad. Here, the berries are being cleaned.(Photo: Carl Normann / Anno Domkirkeodden)
At the end of the 19th century, a merchant from south-eastern Norway came up with a clever idea.
Could Norway's wild berries – the ones that would otherwise be left to spoil deep in the forests – be turned into a source of income?
Johan M.P. Selau was already passionate about cultivated berries such as raspberries and strawberries. He was a member of the National Association for the Utilisation of Useful Plants.
Up to that point, Norwegian horticulturists had made good money by exporting cultivated berries to the English market.
But what about the wild berries? Selau wondered.
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That question marked the beginning of Norway's successful blueberry export.
‘Norwegian packaging for fruit, berries, and vegetables’ was drawn and prepared by the National Association for the Utilisation of Useful Plants in 1904.(Photo: Severin Worm-Petersen / Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology)
Part of the forest’s bounty
Selau may not have known that European blueberries – also called bilberries – were packed with valuable nutrients and antioxidants at the time.
But it was obvious that they tasted good. And that made them desirable in many parts of the world.
“Unfortunately, many berries were simply left to rot in the forest,” says Ida Kristine Teien, department director and curator at the Norwegian Forest Museum.
Norway's forests had already created countless jobs and provided income for people in rural areas.
Even so, many families with limited means struggled financially.
Selau believed that berry picking could provide them with an additional source of income.
"The problem was that there wasn't really anything in place to make it happen," says Teien.
Selau therefore had a great deal of work to do.
He needed berry pickers, cleaners, basket makers, transporters, and inspectors.
"Over time, everything became very well organised," says Teien.
Both men and women picked the berries, and entire families often took part, she explains.
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Organised into berry cooperatives
Many people joined what were known as bærlag (berry teams). These were organised as cooperatives, with standardised rules for picking, cleaning, and packing berries.
The cooperatives helped secure better prices, improve the efficiency of harvesting, and organise transportation and exports.
"Selau travelled all over Norway to get people to recognise the value of wild berries and to make use of them," says Teien.
Ida Kristine Teien found a published description from 1932 explaining how the wooden splints for the export berry baskets were to be made. The design was standardised in 1938. This basket was made by Hans Hansen, business manager and chairman of the Aust-Agder Handicrafts Association.(Photo: Bård Løken / Anno Museum)
The berry baskets
There has been very little research on the berry industry, according to Teien.
That's why she wrote a research article for Anno museum’s anthology Ting i konteks (link in Norwegian).
It focuses on one very specific aspect of the history of berry exports: the berry baskets.
After all the picking, cleaning, and organising, one major obstacle still remained: How could fresh blueberries be transported all the way to England?
“There were many factors that had to be exactly right,” says Teien.
4.5 litres
One of those factors was weight.
How many berries could the basket hold without crushing those at the bottom? The berries also had to be picked at a specific time so they would have the right texture by the time they reached England.
“The baskets had to be of a very special quality,” says Teien.
Selau, who was committed to creating employment, wanted the baskets to be made in rural areas so that even more jobs could be created.
Over time, the baskets were specially designed and could be used to transport blackcurrants, redcurrants, and bilberries. Each basket held exactly 4.5 litres of berries. They were woven from thin wooen splints to provide the berries with sufficient airflow.
A berry cleaner in the Anno Norwegian Forest Museum collection, probably designed according to standards set by the Norwegian Berry Association during the interwar period. The berry cleaner was homemade and used in the berry-producing district of Løten in Hedmark.(Photo: Roger Johansen / Anno Museum)
A berry carrying frame held a total of ten baskets arranged in five layers.(Photo: Roger Johansen / Anno Museum)
Other berries, such as lingonberries, strawberries, and raspberries, were transported in different types of baskets.
Newcastle, Hull, and London
The berries then needed safe and reliable transportation.
“It worked out well that steamships were already carrying goods and passengers to and from Norway, and that the expansion of the railway network was well underway,” says Teien.
Bilberries were mainly exported to England by ships from Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, and Oslo. Most shipments whent to Newcastle, but some also went to Hull and London.
Between 1923 and 1935, a total of 3.6 million litres of blueberries were exported from Norway to England, according to Elvarheim Museum (link in Norwegian).
In total, berry pickers were paid 1,882,000 Norwegian kroner. Adjusted to today's value, that would be 92.8 million Norwegian kroner, or 8.4 million euros.
Ida Kristine Teien holds the berry basket at the Norwegian Forest Museum.(Photo: Marte Dæhlen / Science Norway)
Various types of berry pickers used a hundred years ago, displayed at the Norwegian Forest Museum.(Photo: Marte Dæhlen / Science Norway)
Used in English blueberry wine
Most of the berries shipped to Newcastle were bought by coal miners and used to make blueberry wine, according to Tonje Ramse Trædal, director of Elvheim Museum.
At its peak, the England-bound steamships transported berries to Newcastle twice a week. The berries reached the market just two days later.
After the outbreak of World War II, exports declined. Why the trade never resumed after the war remains uncertain.
There were probably several contributing factors, and it would be an interestng topic for further research, according to Teien.
