Have you ever heard of this rare, sacred berry that is called a bakeapple?

Have you ever heard of a peach colored, blackberry shaped, berry called a bakeapple?

My favorite all time summer food is bakeapple cheesecake, but most people have no idea what I'm referring to when I ask if they've ever tried bakeapples.

They usually think that I'm talking about a baked apple, but it's actually a berry not an apple, and it tastes similar to apricots. I know, sounds strange right, but they're actually quite rare and divine?

When I was little, my grandparents would always take me berry picking and afterwards, my grandma would help me bake treats or make jam with my berries to take home to my family.

We would pick all types of berries including, blueberries, raspberries, partridge berries and my very favorite bakeapples. Bakeapples are not ready to be picked until late July/early August.

These berries are very special, sacred berries that don't grow in many places on Earth, but they do grow on the marshes of the island that I grew up on. These berries only grow in northern subarctic climates as it prefers moist tundra and peat bogs. In Canada, these wild berries can only be found in Newfoundland/Labrador.

The marshy bogs on the northern peninsula of the island, just outside of Gros Morne National Park where I grew up, has the perfect climate for these sacred berries to grow and flourish.

Bakeapples, also known as cloudberries do taste a little tart and that's why I love them on cheesecake.

These berries are so sacred that no one tells you where the secret berry picking spots are, but my grandpa and my dad knew all the secret spots to pick them. One of my dad's most secret spots was inland in the mountains. Our house was on the beach near the ocean in the small fishing community I grew up in.

When I was 12, I started accompanying my dad and my grandfather for their yearly bakeapple picking trip to the mountains. The spot was so secret, that you had to travel 60 minutes on a boat ride and then a 5 hour hike across the mountains just to get to them, unless you took a float plane to drop you off at a lake in the middle of the mountains, which is what we did and it will take much less time.

These rare berries were a favorite for the tourists who traveled to the island from all over the world during the summer months. Because they're so rare they're expensive. At that time when I was 12, more than two decades ago I would sell my berries for $40-60 per gallon and I'd pick about 4 to 5 gallons and make my money for the summer.

I sure loved these yearly trips I'd take to pick these berries, I learned many things on these adventures, of how we live off the land and how beautiful mother nature is to share her goodies with us to nourish our bodies.

It was easy to sell the berries because my grandmother ran an ocean view Bed and Breakfast and people from all over the world would visit and stay at her home during tourist season. Therefore I had no trouble selling my handpicked goodies.

One of the desserts that my grandma always made for her guests that was a big hit, was bakeapple cheesecake, as many of the world travelers had never eaten these special berries before.

Unfortunately, I don't live on the island anymore. I moved 6000 km out west to the prairies about 15 years ago now but every summer I travel back east to the island and make sure to harvest some bakeapples to freeze and bring out west with.

Whenever I am homesick, all I need to do is take a bag of frozen berries from the freezer to make my grandma's special cheesecake recipe and reminisce about my days spent in the forest and mountains with my family harvesting berries.

If you ever travel to the island of Newfoundland be sure to find someone local to buy or try some of these magical berries.