Home»FOOD;GROWING, HARVEST, RECIPES»CRANBERRY HARVEST USA;PHOTOGRAPHER JACKY HOBBS

Cranberry World; IGPOTY 2014
The Cranberry harvest, Massachusetts; over 600 cooperative farmers, spanning 5 generations, harvest their annual cranberry crop each fall for Ocean Spray Cranberry juice.A small amount is conjured up into homemade jellies and jams, or dried for cakes and bakes.
Cranberries , once gathered by hand by native American Indians who used the berries for foodstuff, medicine and dye , are now grown on cooperative farmers in acidic wetland areas of North America. Formerly small scale farmers would 'dry' harvest' berries with a hand rake , and later with a mechanical ,mower. Dry harvested berries are today airlifted, by helicopter,from the fields to avoid damage to the land and the plant, which will produce more fruit the following year.
More commonly nowadays, Cranberries are 'wet-harvested', farmers dramatically flooding the bogs holding their ripened fruit. The berries, still on the vine, bob to the waters surface, each with a tiny buoyant air pocket. A 'water tractor' cuts the berries free from the vine creating an astonishing crimson tide of floating berries. These are then corralled, boomed in and hauled to the waters edge where they are sucked up and loaded into waiting juggernauts. Tons of fresh berreisa re shipped off across America adn as far as Canada to celebrate Thanksgiving, shipments arrive in Britian to accompany our Christmas turkey. Millions of berries go into making Ocean Sprays healthy cranberry juice, cranberry jelly or dried 'craisons'. Cranberry Autumn baking and Christmas food and cranberry decoration features also available.