Photo Credit http://www.history.org
From the end of September to mid November cranberries are being harvested. They can be harvested dry, using a special machine that brushes the cranberries into a collecting sack. More commonly the cranberry bogs are shallow flooded and a harvester travels up and down brushing off the berries that then float in a sea of crimson. These are gathered up and sent off to the processing plant where they are turned into cranberry juice, sauces, jams, sweetened dried fruits or sold fresh.
Photo – Vincent DeWitt for the New York Times
Many of the US Cranberries are grown in the north east of America, with a large proportion in Massachusetts and some in Maine. The Cranberry is a native marshland plant that grows on long running vines. They are quite specific where they grow and their growing conditions. They like the marshes created when the glaciers retreated leaving behind large lumps of ice that carved “kettle holes” in the rock. These flooded to form ponds that Cape Cod is famous for or shallow marshes that are now cranberry bogs. In Massachusetts most cranberry bogs are found south of Boston, between Plymouth, Fall River and Buzzards Bay including Cape Cod.
Cranberry sauce is an essential part of Thanksgiving menus and they are they are recognised as being part of a healthy diet due to their antioxidant properties.
The Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association are holding their Annual Cranberry Harvest Celebration this weekend 12th & 13th October in Wareham Massachusetts. Open 10 am to 4 pm. Admission $10, $5 for seniors, Children under 7 go free. www.cranberryharvest.org