Cranberries were first used by Native Americans. They were then introduced to Europeans during the voyages of discovery in the 15th century.

When the English arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, they found that Native Americans were cultivating cranberries. The English settlers first tried to use them as a substitute for blackberries and raspberries, but quickly realized that they were too sour to be enjoyed fresh. They then tried using cranberries to make wine and vinegar, but found that the taste was not good enough to be palatable.

Tartaric acid was isolated from Cranberries in 1818.

Cranberry juice became popular as a beverage in the United States, and has been a consistent seller ever since. It is used today as a natural remedy for urinary tract infections and other ailments.

What is Cranberries?

The cranberry is a small, round, bitter-tasting fruit that grows on low-growing, sparsely branched, evergreen shrubs. The fruit is about the size of a ping pong ball and comes in deep red and pale pink varieties. They are native to North America and are found growing naturally only in the northern United States, Canada, and Alaska.

Tartness of Cranberries

Cranberries get their tart taste from an acidic compound called anthocyanin (AHN-thoh-sy-AH-nin). When cranberries are cooked or processed, as they would be to make juice or jelly, they lose much of their acidity. Cranberry juice is twice as acidic as orange juice. The acids give cranberries their flavor and color.

The History of Cranberries

Native Americans of New England made cranberry sauce by boiling cranberries with maple sugar or honey and spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. They also used them to make puddings and stuffings for poultry, meats, and fish. Indians used them to make dyes for baskets and clothing. Today cranberries are used mainly for jellies and sauces. Where do all these berries go?

About 90 percent

Cranberries are officially known as Vaccinium macrocarpon in Latin. All Cranberry plants belong to the same scientific family, the Ericaceae. The Cranberry plant is a low shrub which grows to about four feet in height. They are evergreen and have oval shaped leaves with smooth edges. They have tiny flowers that grow into clusters of white flowers that blossom in late May through early June.

The fruit of the Cranberry plant is a berry and is red when ripe. They ripen from August through October which is when they are harvested for commercial use. The Cranberry fruit is around the size of a marble and has a tart flavor like an apple.

The berries are used for making jams, sweet cranberry sauce, juices, jellies and wine. They are also eaten raw or made into pies and other types of desserts. The juice of the fruit is used to make Cranberry-flavored foods including ice cream, cheese spreads, salad dressings and more. In addition to being added to food, beverages and desserts, Cranberries can be eaten whole right out of hand as well!*Cranberry Red Berries were used by the Native Americans for their medicinal value.*

In Europe, Cranberry Cranberry juice is a popular drink. In the United States, Red Cranberries are most often used to make sauces and juices. Red Cranberries are also used in some recipes for desserts.

Cranberry juice is made by crushing Red Cranberries and pressing the juice out of them. The juice is then sometimes sweetened or mixed with other juices. Some people think that Cranberry juice can help prevent urinary tract infections in women, but more research is needed to know if this claim is true.

Tartaric acid, a natural acid found in Cranberries, is sometimes added to cranberry juice or sauce to give it its tart taste.

The cranberry is a fruit that grows in wet, swamp-like areas. The fruit of the cranberry is both small and red and is often used for food.

Cranberries grow on a shrub that can grow up to five feet high. The fruit of the Cranberry grows on vines that are produced by the shrub. These vines are usually spaced from six inches to three feet apart from each other. The Cranberry plant can be found at higher elevations and in cooler climates, but it has been known to grow in warmer temperatures as well.

The flower of the Cranberry bush resembles that of the honeysuckle and may be white, pink or red in color. This flower is much like most other types of flowers as far as its life cycle goes. The blooming period begins around mid-spring and lasts until early summer. This type of flower will continue to bloom throughout the entire growing season, but it will not produce any fruit unless there is enough moisture in the soil where it is planted.

Once this flower starts to wilt, it will produce berries within two weeks time. These berries are green in color when they first form, but they will ripen within a short amount of time and turn red over a period of several days

The berries are bitter to the taste, but are not poisonous. The name Cranberry is derived from craneberry, which alludes, according to some authorities, to the long-beaked birds, called cranes, that feed upon them. Of all the wild fruits found in the northern climates, none is so universally popular as the cranberry.

The plants are from three to five feet high; the leaves are dark green and shining on the upper side; on the under side they are of a pale or bluish-white color. The flowers grow in large flat clusters at the tops of stalks; each cluster containing many small white or pinkish colored flowers. The fruit grows in large oblong pods about two inches long by an inch wide, containing from ten to twenty small round berries of an intense red color when ripe.

The cranberry is considered one of our best native fruits. It is cultivated extensively in Wisconsin and New Jersey. In England it is sometimes cultivated and even more frequently gathered wild in bogs and marshes near the seashore. It is also found growing wild in great quantities in many parts of this country where it has been introduced by accident or design.

Cranberries have a long history of use. By the time they were first discovered by early explorers, they had already been used for hundreds of years. Cranberry juice was one of the few effective treatments available to Native Americans for preventing and treating scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency caused by a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in winter.

The berries were initially used for ornamentation. Because the berries are acidic, many different kinds of birds refuse to eat them. This has led to their use as an ornamental plant in many gardens throughout the world, especially in North America and England where they are widely grown.

Approximately 90 percent of all cranberries sold worldwide are grown in North America, with Massachusetts being the leading U.S. producer and Wisconsin being the leading producer among Canadian provinces. In recent years Canada has become the largest exporter of cranberries worldwide (followed by Massachusetts).