We were surrounded by cranberry bogs at our campground in Massachusetts. We had never seen a cranberry field in person, just pictures of them flooded. On our drive in, we kept seeing sunken fields with irrigation rows cut into the already sunken fields. We had no idea what they were for until we saw the campground map and realized they were cranberry fields.
There is dry harvesting, where the cranberries are sold as fresh fruit. These berries can be transported by helicopter to avoid damage that could be done by traveling by truck.
There is the wet harvesting, where they flood the fields. These cranberries are used for dried cranberries, in other food products, and juice. The cranberries float because they have a pocket of air inside.
Cranberries are judged by color, size, and their bounciness. The firm berries will bounce, whereas the bruised or too soft fruit will not.
I wish we could see them being harvested, but cranberry harvest isn’t until mid-September to early November.
We love cranberries in salads, cookies, and oatmeal. At Christmas, we made a cranberry pie and it was delicious (click here for recipe).
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Very interesting!