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The cranberries are related to the [[bilberry|bilberries]], [[blueberry|blueberries]], and [[huckleberry|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.
==History==[[Image:Jonathan eastman johnson cranberry harvest.jpg|thumb|''The Cranberry Harvest on the Island of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts|Nantucket]]'', [[Eastman Johnson]], 1880.]]▼
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]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|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 (town), Massachusetts|Dennis]] around [[1816]].
==Cultivation==
▲[[Image:Jonathan eastman johnson cranberry harvest.jpg|thumb|''The Cranberry Harvest on the Island of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts|Nantucket]]'', [[Eastman Johnson]], 1880.]]
[[Image:Cranberrys beim Ernten.jpeg|thumb|left|Cranberry harvest in New Jersey]]
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.
==Culinary uses==
Usually cranberries are served as a [[compote]] or [[jelly]], but sometimes they are incorporated in other ways. Cranberry juice, usually sweetened and often mixed with other fruit juices, is a major use of cranberries. The berry is often used in baking ([[muffin]]s and [[cake]]s) and for medicinal purposes.
==Medical uses==
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 infection]]s. While much of the evidence is equivocal, a number of [[double-blind]] [[clinical trial]]s have been carried out that suggest there actually is an effect: a component of the juice appears to competitively inhibit bacterial attachment to the [[ureter]].
An Autumn 2004 caution from the [[Committee on Safety of Medicines]] (the UK agency dealing with drug safety) advises patients on [[warfarin]] to stay off cranberry juice after adverse effects were reported.
== External links ==
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