What is the process of harvesting cranberries?
Dry harvesting uses walk-behind machines to comb the berries off the vines into burlap bags. Berries are then removed from the bogs by either bog vehicles or helicopters. Dry harvested cranberries are used to supply the fresh fruit market. These cranberries are most often used for cooking and baking.
How does a cranberry farm work?
Also known as wet harvesting, the dry bogs are flooded with up to 18 inches (45.7 centimeters) of water the night before the harvest. The following day, the farmers use water reels nicknamed egg beaters to dislodge the berries from the vines so they’ll float to the water’s surface.
Where are cranberries grown and harvested?
Cranberries are grown through the northern part of the United States. The major production areas are New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Quebec.
How do they flood cranberry fields?
Flood harvesting occurs after the berries are well colored and the flood waters have lost their summer heat. The bogs are flooded with up to one foot of water. Flood water is recycled in the cranberry bog system, passed from bog to bog through canals and flume holding ponds and reused, often shared by several growers.
Do you need to soak fresh cranberries?
When using fresh cranberries, if you are not adding them to a baked good you will need to cook them on the stovetop. It is important that you don’t overcook them or they will turn to mush, and will also turn bitter. For added flavor, soak the cranberries in fruit juice or liquor instead of water.
Which state grows the most cranberries?
Wisconsin
Most cranberries come from Wisconsin and Massachusetts Just five states grow almost all of the country’s supply of the tart berries: Wisconsin produces more than half of all cranberries in the United States, Massachusetts harvests another third, and New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington produce much of the rest.
Why do cranberry fields have to be drained as soon as the harvest is finished?
After harvest, bogs are drained, raked, and reflooded. Water protects the shallow-rooted cranberry vines from frost during the cold winter months. It also protects highly flammable bogs from fire and kills the larvae of potential insect pests.
What can I do with raw cranberries?
Fresh and dried cranberries can be used so many different ways, from topping salads to adding into drinks and smashing into cheesy breads. Plus try our fave cranberry cocktails and cranberry cakes!
What’s the best way to harvest cranberries?
So, when fall comes around, get ready to create cranberry swimming pools with the wet method of harvesting cranberries, or get some walking in as you collect your cranberry crop with the dry method of harvesting. Harvesting cranberries by hand is ideal if you only have a small amount of berries to harvest.
How are cranberries harvested in the bogs?
Cranberries being harvested in a bog. For a wet harvest, the bogs and low-lying cranberry fields are flooded. Then a special machine nicknamed an “egg-beater” rolls through with paddles to knock the berries from the vines.
What’s the difference between dry and wet cranberry harvesting?
There are two methods of harvesting cranberries: dry harvesting and wet harvesting. How are Cranberries Harvested? Most commercial farmers use the wet harvest method because it reaps the most berries. Wet harvesting gets about 99 percent of the crop while dry harvesting only gets about one-third.
What’s the name of the commercially grown cranberry?
How to Harvest Cranberries. Commercially grown cranberries are known as the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) or sometimes referred to as lowbush.
How cranberries are really grown?
Part 1 of 3: Planting the Cranberries Choose a variety of cranberry. There are several varieties of cranberry plants that can be used in home growing. Plant at the right time of year. Cranberries are best grown in cooler climates. Prepare the soil. Plant the cuttings or seedlings. Alternatively, grow the cranberries in a container.
Why are some cranberries harvested dry?
The reason that there are two ways to pick cranberries (dry or wet) is because cranberries grow in bogs. What a lot of people don’t know is that bogs are not always wet, thus farmers are able to dry harvest the berries. The other harvesting option is to flood the bogs with water.
Why do they put cranberries in water?
Cranberries are grown in bogs and very wet soils. The reason cranberries are submerged in water is to make the fruit easier to harvest. Hand picking cranberries is too labor-intensive for commercial growers. In the home garden they can be picked off of the bush just like a blueberry.
How are cranberries grown and cultivated?
Cranberries are a unique fruit. They can grow and survive only under a very special combination of factors. These factors include acid peat soil, an adequate fresh water supply, and a growing season that extends from April to November. Cranberries grow on low-lying vines in beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay.
