From time immemorial, in autumn and early winter, the natives of eastern North America harvested the cranberries from the shrubs that grew in their peat bogs. The Iroquois called them “atoca”.
Early colonists appreciated these red berries, for both their medicinal properties and culinary uses. It is now traditional to accompany the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey with a cranberry sauce. Cranberry juice became increasingly popular in the 1960s.
Cranberries did not become widely known in France until the 2000s, although the acidic and slightly bitter juice had lent its red colour to a famous cocktail (the Cosmopolitan) for decades.