National Eat a Cranberry Day

On November 23rd, National Eat a Cranberry Day encourages us to take a bite of the bright red cranberry. But brace yourself!

Found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs, or trailing vines, that grow up to 7 feet long and 8 inches high. Their stems are slender and wiry, and they have small evergreen leaves.

The cranberry flowers are dark pink with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. The fruit of the cranberry plant is a berry that is larger than the leaves and is initially white but when ripe, turns a deep red.

CRANBERRY FACTS

• Cranberries' acidity overwhelms their sweetness. 

• They're a major commercial crop in  Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. 
  

• However, Wisconsin leads in cranberry production with over half of U.S. production.

• We mostly find cranberries processed into products such as juice, sauce, jam, or sweetened dried cranberries.

• Cranberry sauce is considered an indispensable part of a traditional American Thanksgiving meal.

• Due to their nutrient content and antioxidant qualities, raw cranberries are marketed as a superfruit. 

• There are three to four species of cranberry, classified into two sections.

• Producers make white cranberry juice from cranberries harvested after they've matured but before they turn their characteristic dark red color. 

• Some producers make cranberry wine in the cranberry-growing regions of the United States.

• Laboratory studies indicate that extracts containing cranberry may have anti-aging effects.