How Is Cranberry Harvested?

Cranberries are harvested in one of two ways, wet harvest or dry harvest. Most cranberries are wet harvested when the field is flooded, but a few are dry harvested with a mechanical picker, to be sold as fresh fruit. When fields are going to be wet harvested, the field is flooded.

How are cranberries dry harvested?

Dry Harvesting
To dry harvest cranberries, growers use a mechanical picker that looks like a giant lawnmower. The picker combs the berries off the vine with moving metal teeth, and then a conveyor belt carries the berries to a receptacle at the back of the machine.

How are cranberries wet harvested?

Wet Harvesting
The bog is flooded with up to 18 inches of water the night before the berries are to be harvested. The growers then use water reels, nicknamed “eggbeaters,” to churn the water and loosen the cranberries from the vine. Each berry has tiny pockets of air that allow it to float to the surface of the water.

What are the two ways to harvest cranberries?

There are two methods of harvesting cranberries: dry harvesting and wet harvesting.

Where does Ocean Spray get their cranberries?

But how do small, family-owned farms in Massachusetts help produce almost 65% of all cranberries sold? That’s because they’re a part of the Ocean Spray agricultural cooperative. Started in 1933, today 700 family farms across the US, Canada and Chile, collectively own the Ocean Spray brand.

Why do they flood cranberry fields?

Flooding is so important in cranberry cultivation that bogs where flooding is not possible are no longer considered profitable. Cranberry growers use flooding as a management tool to protect the plants from the cold, drying winds of winter, to harvest and remove fallen leaves and to control pests.

Is cranberry a man made fruit?

Cranberries are man-made in the sense that humans performed selective breeding to influence and cultivate cranberries.

Can cranberries be eaten raw?

Eating raw cranberries is safe and easy, though their sharp, bitter flavor isn’t for everyone. Be sure to clean and sort them thoroughly. You should also consume them in moderation, especially when juiced, as excessive amounts of juice may cause stomach upset or interfere with medications like warfarin.

Do cranberries have to grow in water?

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries don’t grow in water (picture those two Ocean Spray guys standing knee-deep in a bog full of cranberries). Instead, they grow on vines in wetland conditions, and the wetlands are then usually flooded at harvest time.

What time of year is cranberry harvest?

Bright red cranberries are visible from space during the harvest season, which occurs from mid-September through mid-November in North America.

Do cranberries ripen after they are picked?

No, it’s not too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving, especially if you might go for something a little different this year, like white cranberries. The berries, actually a pale yellowish green, are picked before they fully ripen and turn red.

Are there spiders in cranberry bogs?

Actually, they’ve been there all along. While the berries are growing, budding, and flowering, the spiders make home in the vines, cleaning the vines of any insects. When the bogs are flooded, the spiders float to the surface and run across the tops of the berries to stay dry.

Where is the cranberry capital of the world?

Bandon, The Cranberry Capital of the World. It may surprise some to learn that Bandon, with its temperateclimate and crashing surf, is an ideal place for growing cranberries, and it has grown to a center of production since the berries were first commercially grown here in the 1890s.

Are cranberries actually berries?

Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, for example, are not true berries but are aggregate fruits—fruits that consist of a number of smaller fruits. Cranberries and blueberries, however, are true botanical berries.

What state is the largest cranberry producer?

Wisconsin
Wisconsin, the largest producer of cranberries in the United States, grew roughly 59 percent of the crop in 2020.

Why are cranberries so expensive?

There’s a cranberry surplus. American farmers have grown a lot more fruit than people will eat and have flooded the market. They can’t save all the extra berries for a rainy day—or a year’s worth of Thanksgiving dinners—because we’re already storing much of the 2017 crop.

Can diabetics drink cranberry juice?

Cranberry juice is a popular beverage in the United States. The consumption of cranberry juice is not prohibited on a diabetes diet. According to the American Diabetes Association, no food or beverage is off-limits to people with diabetes based on the diagnosis of diabetes alone.

Why is there a whole cranberry shortage?

Fresh cranberries could be in short supply after a bad growing season in Wisconsin, the country’s top producer. Holiday food shoppers could have a hard time finding fresh cranberry fruit after Wisconsin cranberry growers yielded less crop than usual this year – nearly 100 million less pounds than an average year.

What is a cranberry bog used for?

The farmers flood the cranberry bogs (which often freeze over) to protect the vines and buds from injuries associated with cold weather. Generally, the initial flood takes place in December and is held in the bogs until winter’s end.

Why do cranberry fields have to be drained as soon as the harvest is finished?

When the warmer weather sets in, the bogs are drained so that the dormant vines awaken for the growing season; while cranberries are most frequently harvested using the “wet pick” method, they do not actually grow under water and thus need to go through the same growing cycle as any other fruit crop.

How long do cranberry plants live?

Normally, growers do not replant each year since an undamaged cranberry vine will survive indefinitely. Some vines on Cape Cod are more than 150 years old and are still bearing fruit.