Riitan Herkku Riitan Herkku Scandinavian Wild Forest Berries

Riitan Herkku

Riitan Herkku Scandinavian Wild Forest Berries offer healthy and high-quality choice for those who appreciate pure flavors from Finland. They deal the most valuable Finnish berries in several countries all over the world. As an expert in commercial berry picking they can always guarantee the best quality and assortment.

General information Riitan Herkku was founded 1986 Riitan Herkku is a family company Riitan Herkku export berries all over Europe (Germany, Austria, Belgium, France) Riitan Herkku has about 100 employees Riitan herkku employs around 400 foreign workers during the summer months to pick berries They have a turnover of over 26 million euro Berry pickers from Thailand, Mongolia and Russia comes to Finland to pick berries They have companies in Ostrobothnia, Lapland, Lahti, Russia and Latvia. Also cooperation with factories in other European countries

Berries? The berries are full of vitamins and antioxidants which are good for your health They have a natural source of vitamin C The most usual ways to preserve the berries are by freezing or drying or as puree or juice These berries can be used to make hot berry soup, yoghurts, drinks, etc. The berries are used as ingredients both in foods, but also other kinds of products In Asia the berries are used in pharmaceuticals, and in France they are used in cosmetic products 95% of the berries are exported to European countries mostly

Different sorts of berries Bilberry (wild) (cultivated) Cloudberry Lingonberry Buckthorn Blueberry Raspberry

Picking the berries Pickers from Thailand, Mongolia, Russia, Estonia, Poland, etc. In Thailand the farmers earn 1 euro a day, while when being here picking berries they earn 500 euros a day in general The farmers don’t have any work in their home country during the summer months, this is a good way to earn money for the family. The rice is growing during these months and they have to wait until the rice has grown The berries can be picked anywhere from above Tampere, but most of the berries are picked in Lapland The pickers are paid by the kilo, which means they can work as much as they like. The price paid is around 1€/kilo for bilberries, 4, 5€ /kilo for cloudberries and 80 cents per kilo for lingonberry.

Berrypicking Championship Berrypicking championship are held in the summer Pickers try to pick as much lingonberry as possible in one hour. Most foreign contestants are from Japan, but there also people from many other countries