These are shiny berries with a characteristic sweet-sour taste and a slight bitter note, being the fruits of a perennial shrub that grows mainly at sufficiently high altitude, on alpine meadows, in deciduous forest clearings, more rarely in shadier places of coniferous forests. The composition of lingonberries is a true treasure of melatonin, quercetin, anthocyanins and other antioxidants of great utility for body health. To these are added fructose, pectins and bio-flavonoids, vitamins, specifically an appreciable amount of vitamin C and vitamins from groups B1, B2, A, C, E, PP, as well as minerals of potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, iodine, copper and manganese. Like regular blueberries, these lingonberries are an exceptional natural antioxidant, including in their composition many organic acids, especially benzoic acid, but especially pectins, polyphenols and other bioactive elements and principles, to which natural sugars are added. Therefore, lingonberries are particularly useful for sufferers of chronic fatigue, insomnia, colds, vitamin deficiency, being, at the same time, particularly effective in preventing or treating cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, as well as urinary tract infections and intestinal parasitoses, joint conditions, rheumatism and diabetes, for the latter provided they are consumed in natural state and without any sugar. Not coincidentally, these lingonberries have been nicknamed "red insulin", others calling them "green insulin" after the color of the respective shrub. More recently, scientists have discovered that these sugar-free lingonberries can be successfully used in the treatment of dental caries, as their composition includes significant amounts of xylitol. It should also be noted that this type of berries has bactericidal, antiseptic and mild laxative effects. Lingonberries are recommended to be consumed especially fresh, and in the off-season, when fresh berries are no longer found at all, it is good to have them frozen, dried or soaked. Additionally, they are traditionally used for preparing drinks from fresh fruits through simple pressing, as well as compotes, juices, jellies. The same lingonberries can serve as ingredients for sauces and marinades, vegetable and fruit salads, various fillings and creams for pies, cakes, pastries and other bakery products, all these being made either exclusively based on them or in combination with other ingredients. According to the tradition of mountain peoples, various dishes of meat, game and poultry are baked in the oven together with lingonberries, these being, of course, associated with meat fried or cooked in one way or another. In fact, in the diet of the same mountain peoples, these lingonberries are very popular and appreciated even without culinary refinements, being served mainly fresh or dried, but most often rolled in powdered sugar or simply crushed together with granulated sugar.