| Cranberries are one of the traditional parts of the | | | | in water and cooled.) |
| Thanksgiving dinner in the U.S. and Canada. Even | | | | Dried cranberries, which are sweetened, have |
| families who never eat them at other times - and | | | | become popular. There are also cranberry muffins, |
| may not really like them - have cranberry sauce to | | | | chocolate-covered cranberries, cranberry gelatin, and |
| go with the turkey. | | | | cranberry drinks. Cranberry juice is often mixed with |
| Cranberries grow throughout Canada and in the | | | | the juice of sweeter fruits, like raspberries. Some |
| northern States, as well as other northern countries. | | | | bakers put cranberries in their apple pies for a |
| The bushes need wet places, called bogs, to grow in. | | | | sharper taste. |
| There is a type of cranberry that grows wild, but the | | | | Cranberries have a high amount of vitamin C. Some |
| ones we buy and use are grown on farms. | | | | people feel they keep sickness away - especially |
| The berries are smooth, with a white color that | | | | urinary tract infections. A study found that this might |
| changes to dark red. In the past, they were not | | | | be true for adult women, at least. One problem the |
| picked until they turned red. However, they are | | | | researchers had was that many people dropped out |
| already ripe when they are white. Recently, white | | | | of the study. There may be some reason people get |
| cranberries have been picked and used for juice and | | | | tired of drinking cranberry juice. |
| other products. | | | | Cranberry extract, in pills, is also sold in drugstores |
| Cranberries are very sour and almost impossible to | | | | and health food stores. Some find it easier to take |
| eat without sweetening. For example, a recipe for | | | | these than to drink cranberry juice. Of course, |
| cranberry sauce calls for four cups of cranberries and | | | | cranberries are healthiest when they're fresh, like any |
| two cups of sugar. (The berries and sugar are boiled | | | | fruit. |