Cranberry

The Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a small red semi-sweet and tart berry?, native to the north American continent (United States and Canada). The berry is often used in baking (muffin?s, cake?s) and for medicinal purposes.

Native Americans are believed to have first recognized and used the cranberry as a source of food. Some tribes called the red berries Sassamanash. They are reported to have introduced the cranberry to starving European settlers in Massachusetts around 1620, who incorporated the berry into the traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Usually cranberries are served as a compote? or jelly?, but sometimes they are incorporated in other ways. Cranberry juice often mixed with other fruit juices is a major use of cranberries.

The cranberry bush will only grow in an environment of sandy, salty wetland?s. US Revolutionary war veteran [Henry Hall]? is alleged to be the first to cultivate the cranberry in the [Cape Cod]? town of Dennis? around 1816.

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