The homeland of the large-fruited cranberry is the humid areas of North America. Already for the Native American Indians it was both food and medicine. The Indians passed their knowledge of cranberries, and other plants and animals, to the first European settlers in the 17th century. As a token of their gratitude, the newcomers invited the indigenous people to celebrate a good harvest and share a meal – turkey with cranberries, which is still a traditional American dish on Thanksgiving Day. The etymology of the cranberry’s name is derived from “cran berries” (English: cran berry), for this is how European settlers christened the fruit, at the sight of the plant’s flowers moving in the wind, resembling the head and beak
of a crane.