Cranberry is commonly too bitter to be eaten fresh but may be sweetened and preserved as sauce, chutney, jelly or pastry filling, or bottled as juice. Cranberry juice ‘cocktail’, with other juices used for sweetening, is a popular commercial product in the US. In the United States and Canada, cranberries are traditionally associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. The fruit is even used to make gravy. Canned whole cranberries and cranberry sauce and jelly are commercially available, as are frozen cranberries. Dried cranberries can be used like raisins in baked goods or as snacks. A tea is made from the leaves.
Native Americans used the berries, twigs, and bark for medicinal purposes. An infusion of the plant has been used to treat cases of slight nausea.
In recent years, cranberry products have been increasingly marketed as a natural remedy for recurrent urinary infections. Cranberry appears to inhibit the attachment of pathogens to uroepithelium and may decrease the number of symptomatic urinary tract infections.
The juice of the fruit is used to clean silver. A red dye is obtained from the fruit.
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