Let's Talk Cranberries

It is relatively easy to research the history of cranberries on the Internet, but it's the ultimate visual experience to witness the beauty of a cranberry harvest in the fall.  The pinelands offer this opportunity because October and November are the months the bogs are flooded and the harvest begins.  The grower of course hopes his winter, spring and summer efforts will now produce a well earned crop.  The cranberry has well earned its place on the best of food menu and it certainly has come a long way since the Native Americans first used the little bouncy berry as a salve to draw from an infection.

Cranberries are considered therapeutic and generally are known for their health benefits.  Consider the following:  they are good for heart health, urinary tract infections, defense against infections, dental health and the list goes on.  And we must not forget they taste good.

These cranberry boxes depict a time from many years ago when farmers hired laborers to hand pick their crop.  The vines were long and tangled and the berries were not always visible.  Basically an individual had to be on hands and knees to do the job.

Along came the cranberry scoop.  This particular scoop weighs nine pounds and has wooden teeth.  Later scoops were made several inches smaller with metal teeth.  Like the name implies the berries were scooped from the vines and it definitely proved to be a back breaking job.

Before wet harvesting began a dry harvesting machine similar to the wet harvesting machine seen in this photo was used.  The above photo depicts one method of wet harvesting still used today.

This machine has a larger reel for knocking the berries off the vines.  Once again it is considered wet harvesting and the machine has proven to have advantages and disadvantages.  The gentlemen walking in the bog guides the driver to where the berries are visible.

What's next?  This might be the newest concept in harvesting cranberries.  The grower is experimenting with  an elaborate aluminum harvester.  It appeared to do quite well on the 2011 harvest.

The grower constantly monitors the crop for insects, dryness, wetness, color and possible rotting.  Like any farm crop sometimes it's a 24-7 dedication  that one can only hope proves to be profitable.

REMEMBER:  Everytime you open your mouth and put food in it , you can thank a farmer.

Oh so good!                                          Cranberry Nut Pie                        Oh so easy!

2 cups cranberries                              1cup sugar

1/2 cup walnuts chopped                    1 1/2 sticks of melted butter

1/2 cup sugar                                      2 eggs

1 cup flour                                           2 tsp almond extract

Mix together cranberries, walnuts and 1/2 cup of sugar, spread in bottom of well-greased 10 inch pie plate.  Mix together flour, 1 cup of sugar, melted butter, eggs and almond extract.  Pour this over the cranberry mixture, bake 55 to 60 minutes in a preheated oven.  Can be served with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or simply powdered sugar.