The cranberry is one of the few fruits native to North America. Native Americans used the cranberries as a food staple as early as 1550. They ate cranberries fresh, ground, or mashed with cornmeal and baked it into bread. By 1620 Pilgrims learned how to use cranberries from the Native Americans.

In Massachusetts, in 1816 Captain Henry Hall became the first to cultivate cranberries in Dennis, Massachusetts. In Wisconsin, around 1860 Edwards Sackett of Sackett Harbor, New York came to Berlin, Wisconsin to inspect some land. He found 700 acres of wild cranberry vines and decided to cultivate his bogs. He sold his cranberries in Chicago for about $15 a barrel. The cranberry is now Wisconsin's state fruit.

Among the fruits and vegetables richest in health-promoting antioxidants, Cranberries rank right up there at the top of the list as a true Superfruit. Cranberries are rich in Vitamin C, dietary fiber, manganese, and vitamin K. But the phytonutrients in this fruit, especially the proanthocyanidins, are thought to contribute to its health benefits which include:

• Anti-inflammatory responses
• Protection against urinary tract infections
• Gastointestnal health improvement
• Dental health by retarding plaque and cavity formation
• Improved heart health

Fresh cranberries, which contain the highest levels of beneficial nutrients, are at their peak from October through December, just in time to add their festive hue, tart tangy flavor and numerous health protective effects to your holiday meals. When cranberries' short fresh season is past, rely on unsweetened cranberry juice made from whole berries and dried or frozen cranberries to help make every day throughout the year a holiday from disease.

Encore Fruit Marketing can provide an excellent source of cranberry juice concentrate to help consumer products deliver one of the 5 A Day fruit servings.

Cranberry juice concentrate is carefully processed from fresh or frozen , ripened cranberries to provide the essential flavor, color and nutrition, in a convenient, ready to use ingredient form for processed beverage and food applications. Cranberry juice concentrate is an excellent ingredient to add a fruit serving to your retail label for beverages, cakes, pies, pastries, sauces, jellies and other processed foods like nutrition bars and snacks.

Contact Encore Fruit Marketing today for product samples and information on cranberry juice concentrate at www.encorefruit.com or Click Here to use our convenient Contact Form.