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Last Updated: December 3rd, 2008
Last Added: Spinelli
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A B O U T

The cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccus, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccus. They are found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs to 10 cm tall (often less), with slender, wiry stems, not thickly woody, and small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant. It is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe.

The name cranberry probably derives from their being a favourite food of cranes, though some sources claim the name comes from "'craneberry' because before the flower expands, its stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane". Another name, used in northeastern Canada, is mossberry.

There are four species of cranberry:

Vaccinium oxycoccus or Oxycoccus palustris (Common Cranberry or Northern Cranberry) is widespread throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere, including northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America. It has small 5-10 mm leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with a purple central spike, produced on finely hairy stems. The fruit is a small pale pink berry, with a refreshing sharp acidic flavour.

Vaccinium microcarpum or Oxycoccus microcarpus (Small Cranberry) occurs in northern Europe and northern Asia, and differs from V. oxycoccus in the leaves being more triangular, and the flower stems hairless.

Vaccinium macrocarpon or Oxycoccus macrocarpus (American Cranberry) native to the north-eastern part of the North American continent (eastern Canada, and eastern United States south to North Carolina). It differs from V. oxycoccus in the leaves being larger, 10-20 mm long, and in its slightly appleish taste.

Vaccinium erythrocarpum or Oxycoccus erythrocarpus (Southern Mountain Cranberry) native to the south-eastern part of the North American continent at high altitudes in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

The cranberries are related to the bilberries, blueberries, and huckleberries, all in Vaccinium subgenus Vaccinium. These differ in having stouter, woodier stems forming taller shrubs, and in the bell-shaped flowers, the petals not being reflexed.

Some plants of the completely unrelated genus Viburnum are sometimes inaccurately called "highbush cranberries".

Cranberries from Massachusetts and New Jersey are susceptible to false blossom, a harmful but controllable virus disease.

History: Cranberries have been eaten by Arctic peoples for millennia and remain a very popular fruit for wild harvesting in the Nordic countries and Russia. In Scotland the berries were formerly wild harvested but with the loss of suitable habitat, the plants have become so scarce that this is no longer done. In North America, Native Americans were the first to recognise and use the cranberry as a source of food. Some tribes called the red berries Sassamanash. They are reported to have introduced the cranberry to starving English settlers in Massachusetts around 1620, who incorporated the berry into the traditional Thanksgiving feast. American Revolutionary War veteran Henry Hall is alleged to be the first to cultivate the cranberry commercially, in the Cape Cod town of Dennis around 1816.

Cranberries are major crops in the American states of Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and New Jersey, as well as in British Columbia, Canada. Commercial cranberry fields today are diked so they may be flooded. When the berries are ripe, they float, making harvesting a matter of flooding the field, shaking the bushes a bit, and skimming off the berries into waiting trucks. Various mechanisms have been used through the years to "shake" the bushes, including a 2005 innovation that reduces bush damage and increases yield.

Uses: Usually cranberries as fruit are served as a compote or jelly, often known generically as cranberry sauce. Such preparations are traditionally served with roast turkey meat, and is considered by some to be a staple of the US holiday Thanksgiving. The berry is also used in baking (muffins, scones and cakes) but, unlike many other berries, is normally considered too sharp to be eaten unaccompanied.

Cranberry juice, usually sweetened to reduce its natural severe tartness and make "cranberry juice cocktail" or blended with other fruit juices, is a major use of cranberries.

There is some use of cranberry juice by people with spinal paralysis; regular consumption of the juice is supposed to reduce the rate of urinary tract infections. While much of the evidence is equivocal, a number of double-blind clinical trials have been carried out that suggest there actually is an effect: a component of the juice appears to competitively inhibit bacterial attachment to the bladder and urethra

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