if you squint, you can see the appallingly bitter and unpalatable fruit growing amongst the swamp

cranberries are definitely high on the list of "how did this become a food?" foods

I don't even dislike cranberry, it just doesn't seem like an obvious choice of things to actively work to integrate into your people's diet

tbf a lot of things are on that list, like cheese

who was the first person who was like "man this milk is WAY off... but maybe that made it even better!!!"

or all of the "hmm maybe this nightshade plant is not only not deadly but really tasty" plants

I love cranberries lol

Cranberry, pumpkins, bats, rain, things CC can't get enough of

We know

I think most fruits started off more like cranberries

cranberries just never got selectively bred as much as apples or w/e

/hands together prays

That's almost certainly true. We indiginous native Americans tribes DID selectively breed corn and squash/pumpkins buuuuuuuuuut

swamp berries are flavoring. You want sugar? There's honey and maple syrup for that what are you doing. Don't fuck around with nutritional value to make things unhealthy. -- Natives also have a higher rate of diabetes for this reason. We never went crazy with food agriculture rotation was everything

I mean bitters exists, so it's not as though "this tastes horrible, let's make it a thing" is unique

eyes my Campari