How Native Americans used Cranberries

FOOD

Cranberries were prepared and eaten in many ways:
raw and fresh
dried
boiled with honey or maple syrup as a sauce
mashed with cornmeal & baked into bread
succotash: cooked with corn and beans

Pemmican -- was the most common cranberry staple in their diet
a mixture of dried, mashed cranberries mixed with deer fat, dried meat, cornmeal that was boiled, pounded into pulp,
shaped into cakes, then dried in the sun
a survival ration that was carried on long journeys because it did not spoil

As part of winter food supply, fresh or dried berries were covered with cold water and preserved in crocks

Photo courtesy of Spinner Publications © 1990 MEDICINAL USES
roasted, unripe berries were mashed into a poultice for wounds
mixed with cornmeal to draw out venom from poisoned-arrow wounds
berry thought to have healing power to calm nerves

CULTURAL/CEREMONIAL USES

red dye for blankets and rugs
symbol of peace and friendship:
frequent state feasts between tribes at which cranberries were always served (Eck 1990)

harvesting cranberries | how colonists used cranberries