I know one sure sign that Christmas is approaching, and it isn’t just the Christmas music playing in the mall. Every year, The Body Shop pulls out their Cranberry line of products, and Jordan stocks up on his favourite body wash.

But then, cranberries were always associated with Christmas or perhaps, more correctly, associated with the turkey that is associated with the season. I’m not sure that this holds so true today.

I tried to recall when cranberries had became more than just something you made into sauce for poultry or strung with popcorn for the tree. My own recollection of how the history of the cranberry changed isn’t far off the mark.

Native Americans made their life-sustaining pemmican from dried deer meat and cranberries and used the berries in poultices to treat infections. Even without the advantage of future scientific research, they recognized the health benefit of the wild vine. Not only were they getting required daily amounts of vitamin C, they were likely also benefiting from an anti-bacterial component in the berry.

Once the pilgrims landed, they began to make use of the cranberry extensively, and in the early 1800s, it became one of the first crops in North America to be cultivated and formally marketed. Sailors were mad for the berry and would come and buy barrels full. They knew that the berries were a good way to keep scurvy at bay.

The berry was named “cranberry” by the pilgrims because its pink blossom looked like the sand cranes which no doubt inhabited the wet lands and marshes where the wild vines grew.

It was just over 75 years ago that the first co-operative for cranberries was formed by a now familiar name: Ocean Spray. The purpose of the group was to further the sales of their crop, expanding it into use all year. This co-operative now includes growers from British Columbia and Quebec to Florida, although most cranberries are still grown in the Northern States.

In 1930, Cranberry Juice Cocktail was created, but it wasn’t until the early 60s that blends such as Cran-Apple were developed.  The unfortunate thing about the cranberry is that it has always required quite a bit of sugar to make it edible in any form, a fact that perhaps kept many from adopting it as their everyday beverage. As much as they tried to market these new beverages as year round juices, cranberry juice seemed to be stuck in a Christmas rut.

The big breakthrough for the cranberry happened in the early ‘90s, in two unrelated developments. The first was the development of the “Craisin,” a sweetened and dried cranberry.

I can remember when we first started to see dried cranberries in the restaurant industry. Even before they were available at retail level, we could “source” them wholesale for use in chicken stuffing and salads. We had our bagel maker add them to the bagels that we used for turkey bagelwiches. I thought that these sweet berries were naturally sweetened by “sun-drying.” I soon found that all dried cranberries contain a lot of sugar, even if they aren’t called “sweetened.” You have to read the ingredients.

Sundried cranberries quickly became popular in muffins, breads, cereals, and fancy cocktails, such as the crantini. You could soon buy cranberry-chicken sausages and pâté; cranberry mustards and cheeses; cranberry body wash and lotion.

At about the same time as the crantini blitz, the second bonus for the cranberry industry came when researchers found that women who drank cranberry juice on a regular basis had up to 50 percent fewer urinary tract infections (UTIs) than the placebo group. There have been some pretty conclusive studies on this, and it is thought that the tannins (the chemicals that make the berry so tart) prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder. This same property may prevent gum disease, although you would have to weigh this with the high sugar content in the juice.

There are also preliminary studies that show that this same anti-bacterial property may deter ulcer-causing bacteria from adhering to the stomach lining, preventing ulcers.

There is also research going on to study one of the anti-oxidants in cranberries, a similar phytochemical also in strawberries and blueberries, that may prove to be effective in preventing cancer.

But forget about the healthy stuff, I like to use dried cranberries for rice pilaffs, on salads, especially ones with goat cheese, and in my porridge. I use cranberries interchangeably with either currants or dried apricots in my turkey stuffing; I guess just depending upon what I find in the fridge at the time.

Do you remember when you could only find fresh cranberries around Christmas? You can now find bags of frozen berries almost anytime of the year and fresh cranberries freeze well. When you do go to use them, don’t thaw them first. Cranberries should be firm enough that they bounce; a test used by producers when grading their berries. You should use a minimal amount of liquid to cook the berries and only until they go “pop!”

I make a more year-round type of cranberry sauce now, cranberry chutney, which is good 12 months of the year on everything. It is especially good layered over a brie wheel, baked until runny, and served with French bread, even for a summer dinner party!

Except for that body wash, the cranberry has definitely become a full-time resident in our home.