Their matted stems are low and creeping, with darkish, shiny evergreen leaves about an inch lengthy, and the stalked flowers are produced on upright branches. Crops bloom in the summertime: every flower has 5, white, fused petals, with the free lobes flaring backward. The fruits are technically berries, containing plenty of tiny seeds, and they’re sensible pink when ripe. (Apparently, one selection, from West Virginia, has shiny inexperienced ripe berries.)
The vegetation have been cultivated since early within the nineteenth century, and a thriving trade has developed from their tradition. Most of this trade is centered in Wisconsin, really, however Massachusetts and New Jersey are additionally main producers. At harvest time, the plots wherein the vegetation develop are flooded, and the ripe fruits simply gathered as they float.
The berries are prized as a tasty deal with, particularly for the seasonal sauce and varied goodies that they render. (For you cooks, I’m advised that the contemporary berries will bounce when thrown on a desk high. Not contemporary, no bounce.) In any other case, the commercially out there juice from the fruits is filled with vitamin C, antioxidants and different healthful issues, and it has been proven to be not less than considerably helpful in treating urinary tract infections and in combating oral micro organism. However everyone is aware of that an important factor about this plant is the sauce.