By Joel Denker
The venerable cranberry is clouded in myth, in tales of Puritans and Indians, and in stories of the first Thanksgiving. We pay homage to this symbol of a bygone era of simplicity and self-reliance during the holiday season. But we know little about the actual history of this curious fruit.
The cranberry is a North American original. It is one of three major fruits—along with the blueberry and the Concord grape—native to our continent.
The Indians discovered its evergreen shrubs amid the beach plums and bayberry bushes in coastal New England. The viny plant, which bears crimson berries, wound through marshes and swamps. The Wampanoag tribe of Cape Cod, a cranberry heartland, named it ibimi or “bitter berry.”
The Native Americans prized the cranberry for its many uses. The berries could be dried in the sun and stored or preserved in crocks full of cold water. Their high acid content enabled them to be kept for long periods.
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To learn more about cranberries, see The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat, coming in October from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442248861/The-Carrot-Purple-and-Other-Curious-Stories-of-the-Food-We-Eat.
