Future Cranberries...

The highbush cranberries are blooming now and they should be ready for picking just after the first frost. I have to say, they are an acquired taste, nothing like the regular cranberry. They grow wild here and if you can get over the smell (stinky socks), they make pretty good cranberry sauce.

*The Natives of Canada used many parts of highbush cranberry for both food and medicine. The berries are high in vitamin C and were eaten fresh or made into pemmican. The bright red fruit was also used for ink and a dye for clothing. The bark and leaves, which contain a bitter tasting chemical called viburnine, were boiled into teas and used as sedatives and pain relievers.