What is the history behind the cranberry?

Answer 1

Cranberries grow on long-running vines in acidic, sandy bogs and marshes, mostly in the northeast United States, but also in Wisconsin and the Pacific Northwest. Native American used crushed cranberries to preserve food throughout the winter. They also used cranberries as medicine and dye. In 1620, English settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts, learned to use cranberries from the Native Americans. By 1683, they were making cranberry juice. Cultivation of cranberries began around 1816, after Captain Henry Hall, of Dennis, Massachusetts, noticed that the wild cranberries in his bogs grew better when sand blew over them. Captain Hall began transplanting his cranberry vines, Fencing them in, and spreading sand on them himself. By the 1820s, cranberries were being exported to Europe. By the 1850s, American sailors carried cranberries on their voyages to prevent scurvy.