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 CRANBERRY (Vaccinium macrocarpon, Oxycoccus quadripetalus)
Common name
Cranberry
Medicinal parts
Juice from the berries, whole
berries
Description
Cranberries grow in bogs from
Alaska to Tennessee and are a main crop in Maine. The bright red small berry
fruit is harvested in fall.
Traditionally made into a sauce to serve with the Thanksgiving turkey,
the common cranberry has a powerful medicinal use as an agent against
urinary infection and cystitis. Doctors routinely advise their patients
troubled with these afflictions to drink cranberry juice, and it is listed
as an effective remedy in the United States Pharmacopoeia, the official
United States list of approved drugs.
The problem with commercially produced cranberry juice "cocktail"
generally purchased in supermarkets is that it is more water and sugar than
actual cranberry juice. To get enough of the pure juice, it's necessary to
drink a large quantity-as much as a quart a day, which is often not
practical. Fortunately, health food stores carry a bottled pure cranberry
juice concentrate that can be diluted at home to suit one's own taste.
Personally, I enjoy its natural tartness, but if you find it too sour, you
can sweeten it as you please. Of course, if you use sugar or honey, you are
adding calories. One good sweetener is an infusion made from licorice root
(which does not taste like the licorice candy you know from childhood-that
taste comes not from licorice but from anise seeds). Another solution is to
mix the pure cranberry juice with unprocessed apple juice that is
sugar-free, or buy a commercial brand of cranberry juice sweetened naturally
with apple and grape juices. Encapsulated dried berries are also effective
for active urinary infections. You can also munch on the new dried
cranberries, sometimes called "craisins" for their similarity to raisins.
Once a urinary infection has been cleared up, continue to drink a glass
of pure cranberry juice daily as a preventative against future infection,
especially if you are a sexually active woman who is prone to cystitis.
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