Bog cranberry

In autumn Belarusian bogs turn red with cranberries – picking them is a traditional occupation for the people of Polesia.

A creeping dwarf shrub with thread-like shoots up to several tens of centimetres long and small evergreen leaves, growing among sphagnum mosses. In summer it produces pink flowers with swept-back petals that resemble a bird’s head and beak – hence the association with the crane in the name “craneberry”. The round, red, sour berries ripen in autumn and are rich in vitamin C and organic acids, so they keep for a long time. They are used for juices, preserves, kissel and fruit liqueurs.

Significance in the country

Belarus has some of the largest surviving peat bogs in Europe, and the cranberry is their most valuable crop. The Yelnya bog in the Vitebsk region and the marshes of Polesia are famous for abundant harvests, and autumn outings “for cranberries” are a fixed part of the rural calendar.

Where it grows

On raised and transitional bogs throughout the country, most abundantly in Polesia (the Brest and Gomel regions) and in the Yelnya bog and the marshes of the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve in the north.

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