Cranberry

lat. Vaccinium

Group: Fruits and Vegetables

When you hear the word "cranberry," the first associations it awakens will probably be those of the eponymous tart fruit and jelly made of it. American Thanksgiving Day is closely connected with it, as well as the famous Irish band The Cranberries, named after this fruit.

Cranberry is a conifer shrub with small, round, red fruit. The leaves are tiny, hidden with larger fruits, which are white in the beginning, but redden with time. Cranberry blooms in dark pink blossoms in spring. It grows in colder regions of Earth's northern hemisphere and it is especially popular in the USA and in Canada, where it is cultivated as an agricultural product.

An interesting fact is that the fruit can be picked in two ways, which are dry and water harvest. Shrubs are planted in lines, which facilitates dry harvest with mechanical pickers, picking fruit with their metal "teeth."
Water harvest takes place in autumn by flooding a whole field with cold water, and then a machine similar to a water plough drives through the shrubs, in order to pick as much fruit as possible. It is beautiful to see the whole field in red nuances of these berries floating on the surface.

Indians used to make dishes with cranberries. They mixed dried fruit with dry meat and melted fat to make nutritious food for winter. Americans use cranberries very often nowadays, whether fresh, dry or in the form of juice, compote, sauce or jelly. The most popular dish is definitely sweet jelly eaten with roasted turkey, which makes an excellent combination of a salty and sweet dish typical of Thanksgiving Day. Cranberry is also used for making various sorts of cakes, the most popular one being cranberry muffins. If you enjoy experimenting with food, try out a recipe for cranberry sauce:

Citrus Cranberry Sauce with Pineapple
12 oz. fresh cranberries
zest of 1 Meyer lemon
1 C. pineapple juice
1/2 C. orange juice
1/2C + 1 Tbs. sugar (Throw all the ingredients in a pot, stir occasionally and watch it go through these four stages. When it looks like jam, everything is ready!)

The berries are full of vitamins, magnesium and calcium. They are also very useful in prevention and treatment of health problems, such as those with: cardiovascular and immune system, urinary infections, digestion and dental plaque. They also contain anti-cancer agents.

The bare scent of cranberry is sooner tart and sharper than sweet. One of the most popular perfumes with an accentuated cranberry note is certainly Black XS for Her Paco Rabanne. It opens with a tart note of cranberry, which later blooms in fullness thanks to powerful woody, floral and musky notes. Sweetness develops by adding gourmand aromas, such as cocoa and creamy vanilla, which accompany cranberry tartness perfectly. Sweeter and more tamed cranberry can be found in the fragrance Wish of Love by Avon. The fruit is in harmony with rose and the whole composition is romantic and coloured in gentle pink nuances. Cranberry can be felt the whole time you wear this perfume and it intertwines with aromas of cherry blossom, rose petals and pink hortensia.

Other outstanding perfumes containing cranberry are: Emporio Armani Night – a passionate and sensual fragrance, full of incredible energy of fruit and flowers; Ibiza Hippie Escada – a handful of various sweet fruits led by cranberry in heart of the composition; Candie's Lux – a refreshing fragrance where fruit is softened with gentle and feminine floral notes; Touch for Women – Burberry – a warm perfume which leaves a long trail of vanilla and woody notes.