How Colonists used Cranberries
FOOD
Boiled with sugar into a sauce to eat with meat and poultry
Tarts and pastries
Beverages such as nogs and "shrub" -- basically a cranberry-lemonade
with lots of sugar (Burrows 1976)
MEDICINAL USES
Used for a wide variety of complaints:
fevers and agues, blood disorders, liver problems, urinary
disorders, stomach ailments, vomiting, diarrhea, diabetes
Protection against scurvy (vitamin C deficiency):
Barrels of cranberries packed in spring water were carried by American
ships during the whaling expeditions and long China trade voyages of the
19th century (Thomas
1990)
"Yankee soldiers dining on a Thanksgiving meal of turkey and cranberries,
1864. (Pen and ink drawing by Robert A. Henry)
Drawing and caption courtesy of Spinner Publications,
copyright 1990.
harvesting
cranberries | how
Native Americans used cranberries