Cranberries have become a popular food, beverage,
and dietary supplement ingredient in North America. A total of 400 million
pounds of cranberries are consumed annually in the United States, of which 20%
are used during the Thanksgiving holiday.1 Cranberry sauce has
accompanied meat dishes dating back centuries, and the berries were used by
Native American tribes long before European settlers were introduced to the
fruit.
Cranberries are derived from two different
species: Vaccinium macrocarpon and V. oxycoccos. The latter is also known
as small cranberry. Both species are members of the heather family (Ericaceae).
The small
cranberry can be distinguished from V.
macrocarpon by its smaller leaves, whose edges are rolled under and are
whiter underneath. Additionally, the leaves and stems of V. macrocarpon grow much higher than the flowers and fruit, while
the small cranberry fruit appear to be terminal (i.e., at the end of the stems)
instead.2
Traditional
Uses of Cranberry
Both species of cranberry have been widely
used by Native American tribes. Wild cranberries were gathered by tribes from
Maine south to New Jersey on the East Coast, and west across the northern Great
Plains all the way to Oregon and Washington, and north to areas from British
Columbia to Quebec.3 The name cranberry originates from the word
“craneberry,” which refers to the blossoms’ resemblance to the head and bill of
a sandhill crane.4 The French Canadian name atoca, which is still in use in the province of Quebec, is derived
from atoka, the Wendat (Huron) word
for cranberry. The berry was called sassamanash by the Algonquin and ibimi
by the Wampanoag and Lenni-Lenape, which both translate as “bitter” or “sour
berry.”
The Native Americans ate fresh cranberries, dried
the fruit to make cakes to store, and made tea out of the leaves. The Algonquin,
Chippewa, Iroquois, and Wendat used V.
macrocarpon berries for food. In his 1632 book Le grand voyage au pays des Hurons, French missionary Gabriel
Sagard wrote that the members of the Wendat tribe ate cranberries raw or
stuffed them into bread.5 The Iroquois mashed the fruit, made it
into small cakes, or dried it for later use. Interestingly, the Iroquois also
soaked the dried fruit in warm water and cooked it to make a sauce or mixed it
into cornbread.6 The Iroquois and Chippewa also used cranberries for
medicinal purposes: as a “blood purifier” and laxative and to treat fever,
stomach cramps, and conditions related to childbirth.3 The
Montagnais used a tea made from the branches to treat lung inflammation.6
Vaccinium oxycoccos also was a source
of food for a number of Native American tribes. The berries were eaten raw or
cooked by the Algonquin, Chippewa, Cree, Haisla, Hanaksiala, Hesquiat, Kitasoo,
Klallam, Makah, Menominee, Nitinaht, Oweekeno (or Wuikinuxv), Potawatomi, Quinault, Tanana, and
Thompson (or Nlaka’pamux) tribes.6,7 Inuit people from the Iñupiat
tribe ate the berries with frozen fish eggs as a dessert. Another dessert was
made from fresh berries mashed with milk and seal oil. Berries were also cooked
with fish eggs and blubber, made into pies and puddings, or used as a sauce.6
An infusion of V. oxycoccos was used
by the Chippewa tribe to treat nausea. Native Americans also used dressings
made from whole dried cranberry fruit externally for wound healing.8
Native Americans also used cranberries in a
mixture called pemmican, which comes
from the Cree word pimîhkân, derived from the word pimî, meaning
fat or grease. Historically,
dried meat from elk, moose, deer, or bison was pounded into very small pieces
and mixed with fat and berries, such as blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium, V.
corymbosum, and other Vaccinium species),
cranberries, Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier
alnifolia, Rosaceae), and choke cherries (Prunus virginiana, Rosaceae), and formed into a cake or ball.9
It is believed that the addition of fat and the fruits helped to preserve the
pemmican, so it could be used by hunters and fur traders on long journeys away
from home.3 The pemmican lasted for months
and was a reliable source of protein and fat.
European settlers
did not follow the recipes of Native Americans, but used cranberries in their
own recipes for V. oxycoccos, which
is also found in Europe, or lingonberries (V.
vitis-idaea), mainly
as a sour fruit sauce served with wild fowl. Settlers to North America sweetened
the fruit with honey, and used cranberries in pies and tarts, and in a sauce for
all kinds of meat dishes, particularly turkey.
Cranberry
Cultivation and Processing
Captain Henry Hall is widely credited as being
the first to cultivate cranberries beginning in 1816 in Dennis, Massachusetts. In
addition, Edward Sackett started cultivating the plant in about 1860 in Berlin,
Wisconsin.
Cranberries do
not grow in water, but in impermeable beds (known as “bogs”) that are layered
with sand, peat, gravel, and clay. These bogs were originally made by rock
debris of varying size that was deposited by glaciers and covered with layers
of organic soil. Now, cranberry producers have optimized the growing
conditions for cranberries.4 Dead leaves accumulate over the course
of time and sand is added to the bed surface every two to five years to
encourage upright production and maintain productivity. The fruit is either dry-harvested
(to be sold as fresh fruit in stores) or wet-harvested, producing those
cranberries that are further processed into juice, dried cranberries, or
products for the nutraceutical and cosmetic industry.
Approximately 95% of
cranberries are wet-harvested.4 The cranberry fruit has four pockets
of air that allow it to float. For wet-harvesting, the cranberry bogs are
flooded, and the fruits are removed from the stems of the plants using machines
that churn the water and knock off the fruits. The floating fruits are pulled
towards a pump that moves water and cranberries upwards onto a conveyor belt,
from which the cranberries are loaded onto a truck, while the water is pumped
back into the bog. Wet-harvested cranberries are cleaned immediately and most
of the crop is frozen prior to further processing to avoid spoilage.
The cleaning of
cranberries involves several steps. First, the cranberries are “hosed down” and
then put through a sorting machine that removes leaves and rotten fruit.
Smaller parts (e.g., the stems) are removed in a tumbler, a device that knocks
the cranberries against a wall. Lastly, the berries are sorted by size: the
largest are often sold dried and sweetened, while the smallest, which tend to
have the highest concentrations of proanthocyanidins*, are used as raw
materials for dietary supplement products. Mid-sized berries are used to make
cranberry juice and sauce.
Quality Control and Modern Research
As demand for cranberry products increased,
adulteration by dilution or substitution with lower-cost materials has been reported
more frequently. Known adulterants include extracts of various fruits and other
materials, such as grape (Vitis vinifera,
Vitaceae) seed and skin, peanut (Arachis
hypogaea, Fabaceae) skin, maritime pine (Pinus pinaster, Pinaceae) bark, black bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Fabaceae) skins, black rice (Oryza sativa, Poaceae), plum (Prunus domestica, Rosaceae), and mulberries (Morus spp., Moraceae).10-16 In addition, some commercial
products contain other unlabeled, less valuable parts of cranberry, or
unlabeled food dyes.16 Companies that operate on a
“farm-to-gate” basis (i.e., those that use some degree of vertical integration,
in which each step, from cultivation to the production of raw materials, is
controlled) have a clear advantage with regard to ensuring a good quality raw
material and/or finished product, compared to companies that purchase highly
processed ingredients of unknown origin.
Today,
the main medicinal use for cranberries is to prevent urinary tract infections
(UTIs). This effect, which has been supported in numerous clinical studies, is
believed to be due to the ability of the proanthocyanidins to prevent bacterial
adhesion to the urinary tract.17-20 According to a systematic review
and meta-analysis, the UTI preventive effect is more pronounced in children,
and women with recurrent UTIs.21
However,
some researchers consider the clinical evidence for the efficacy of cranberries
to prevent UTIs to be inconclusive.21,22 Nonetheless, the most
recent meta-analysis, published in 2017, included 28 clinical investigations that
assessed the effects of cranberry preparations on the incidence of UTIs and found
that cranberry significantly reduced the risk of UTIs. Patients at risk for UTIs
were found to be more likely to benefit from the effect of cranberry treatment.23
Other
health benefits attributed to cranberries include the prevention of ulcers and periodontal disease, both due to
the reported anti-adherence properties.24-25 For oral health,
cranberry ingredients with low sugar contents are desirable. Cranberry has also
been shown to exhibit antiviral activities, and to reduce cardiovascular risk
factors.26-28 Future research may find additional health benefits
for this native North American fruit.
* Proanthocyanidins are fairly large
molecules consisting of flavan-3-ol units, and are
considered by many to be the primary active components in cranberries. —Stefan Gafner, PhD
Cranberries float in a flooded bog.
The fruit is cut from the plant.
The floating fruit is pulled toward the pump.
The water and berries are pumped and the water is drained.
Berries are loaded into a truck for transport to the processing center.
Berries are transported to the cleaning room.
Stems and leaf material are removed.
Berries are sorted according to size.
This machine juices mid-sized berries.
These larger berries will be dried and sweetened.
All photos courtesy of Stefan Gafner.
References
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