Cranberry

a shiny, tart, red berry, grown in bogs on trailing vines, Vaccinium macrocarpon, in the Ericaceae family. The cranberry is a very important part of traditional North American Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. When the Pilgrims first tasted cranberries, they found them very sour; had it not been for the assurances of the friendly Indians, the Pilgrims might never have used them. Thankfully, they did; the berry protected the first New Englanders from scurvy.

The fruit was initially referred to as "crane berry", because the plant's slender stem and downward-hanging blossoms resemble the neck, head and bill of a Sandhill crane. Others say the Pilgrims named them "crane berry" because they noticed the cranes wading in the bogs where the cranberries grew. The Indians, who called the berries I bimi, mashed them into a paste mixed with dry meat to make pemmican. They also used the juice of the berries for a poultice to prevent blood poisoning from arrow wounds. The berries also provided a beautiful red dye. The cranberry is one of only a handful of fruits native to North America, the Concord grape and blueberry being the others. Cranberries are rich in vitamin C and contain anthocyanin, a flavonoid with anti-inflammatory properties.

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