Cranberries are a delicious, nutritious, versatile fruit native to the United States. Native Americans consumed cranberries by the bushel, using the fruit in a popular dish called pemmican, consisting of crushed cranberries, dried deer meat, and melted fat. They also used it is a medicine to treat arrow wounds (ouch!) and as a dye for rugs and blankets.

Captain Henry Hall began commercially cultivating cranberries in 1816, after he noticed that his cranberries grew faster when sand blew over the bog. The ingenious Captain Hall began fencing his cranberries bogs and spreading sand over the crop regularly. Modern cranberry bogs are beds layered with sand, peat, gravel, and clay. Cranberries require plentiful fresh water to grow, and are harvested in the early Spring season.

Undamaged cranberry vines can survive indefinitely, and it is rumored that some cranberries vines in Massachusetts are 150 years old! Although it is highly unlikely that humans can survive 150 years through a diet rich in cranberries, the fruit can aid in the prevention of kidney stones, lower LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), raise HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol), and promote gastrointestinal health.

Most importantly, cranberries are also the inspiration for the name of the classic Irish rock band, The Cranberries, whose timeless hits “Linger” and “Zombie” have been playing repeatedly in the Custom Choice Cereal office lately.

Don’t forget – Custom Choice Cereal is offering cranberries as a free ingredient if you order before November 28, 2009!!!