Bakeapples are the great treasure of the Newfoundland barrens — amber cloudberries that ripen in the boggy marshlands of late August, too precious and too finicky to grow anywhere else. Berry pickers walk for miles, bent over the bogs, to fill their containers with these golden jewels, and a jar of bakeapples is a gift that says you’re family. The name, some say, comes from the French ‘baie qu’appelle’, though Newfoundlanders will simply tell you they taste like baked apples crossed with sunshine.
What makes it great is that flavour, which has no real equal — softly tart, honeyed and faintly tropical, like a secret the barrens keep. Baked into a simple two-crust pie, the berries hold their shape and their colour, turning amber and glossy beneath a golden crust. Serve it warm with a pour of cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you’ll understand why bakeapple season is circled on every Newfoundland calendar.
