LOW-BUSH CRANBERRIES; 
LINGONBERRIES Vaccinium vitus -idaea

Description: Plant

Low trailing evergreen shrub; dark green leaves, very shiny, oval; fine, pink, 4-point bell flowers; dark red berries (which are white underneath until they are ripe).

Habitat:

Wet bogs and tundra.

Uses:

Low-bush cranberries are also known as lingonberries. Good to eat raw, although they are tart. Dena’ina use them for medicine against headache, swelling and throat trouble including tonsillitis; they are used raw and heated in cloth as an external hot pack. Also used to make sauce, jam, jelly, candy and pancakes.

Commercial Potential:

Lingonberries are produced commercially in Sweden, Finland and the Soviet Union. The primary market is Germany, also Sweden and the United States. They are also harvested in Newfoundland. Leaves and stems of V. vitus-idaea are also used to produce the drug arbutin. Lingonberries can be cultivated in Alaska. Patricia Holloway at the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has conducted major research on this.

Special Harvest or Processing Comments:

Lingonberries are easily gathered with a berry rake. After harvest they must be cleaned by winnowing, or by rolling them down a textured board. Because of their high acid content, they will preserve almost indefinitely if kept cool.