Native Cranberries
…
North America.
10,000 Years Ago
Ten thousand years ago the ice caps started melting and pulling back in North America. These shrinking glaciers left large areas of moist land, which today are creatively called wetlands and/or bogs.
That type of land – wet, sandy and cool – is ideal for cranberries to grow in and so they sprung up and thrived for thousands of years.
This is still where they grow naturally at present, focused mainly in New England, in the North West and a bit in Canada.
Cranberry Growth by State
1- Wisconsin – over 50%
2- Massachusetts – about 33%
3- New Jersey
4- Oregon
5- Washington
The last 3 states combined grow the remaining 17%.
In Water?
Cranberries grow on vines in a marshy, sandy type soil. So why do we always see them floating in water?
Approximately 10% of the cranberries grown in North America are picked dry, right off the vine, and used to be sold fresh in grocery stores. They pick these berries carefully.
But the majority (90%) are wet harvested. Wet harvesting is when the farmers flood the cranberry crops in about 2 feet of water the day before they’re going to gather them up. This method makes it easier on the farmers, and allows them to gather up so many more in a shorter period of time.
Hope this Helps.
– Cranby
