American Cranberry Company will attempt to answer all of your cranberry questions. 

1.  Where are cranberries grown?

Cranberries are grown in the United States and recently have been grown in South America.  In the United States almost all cranberries are grown in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Oregon.  In South America, Chile is becoming a primary cranberry producer.

2.    How are cranberries grown?

Cranberries are grown in "bogs."  A bog is an area of wet, spongy ground with soil made up of decaying vegetative matter.  For cranberries, you also need very sandy, acidic soil.  The bogs are traditionally surrounded by "dams" to aid irrigation, flooding and harvesting.  

3.  How do cranberries grow?

Cranberries grow on "vines" that travel along the ground, called "runners" and with shoots, called "uprights."  The vines get very thick in the bogs and "choke" almost all other plants so that the bogs are almost all cranberry vines.  The vines produce a "bud set" where the actual berry is produced.

4.  How are cranberries picked?

Back in the "old days," cranberries were picked by hand using various types of "scoops."  People would often have heavy wooden and metal scoops with teeth and would "swipe" into the cranberries, lifting up to have the cranberries drop into the scoop.  This was, and still is, hard demanding work.  Today, the vast majority of cranberries are picked by flooding the bogs and having machines beat the cranberries off the vines.  Cranberries float, so once they are taken off the vine, they float to the surface and then are gathered and placed into trucks and sent to the processing plant.

There is a very small percentage of farms that still pick the cranberries when the bogs are "dry" - not using the flooding technique.  American Cranberry Company obtains all of their cranberries from these select farms.  These farms use special machines that scoop up the berries and puts them into big burlap bags.  These bags are then taken off the machine and they are dumped into large bins.  The bins are then taken to the packing house and packed "fresh" so that you may enjoy "fresh picked" and "fresh packed" cranberries.

5.  What are some of the uses for cranberries?

Cranberries are used in all kinds of foods today.  Cranberries are baked into delicious breads, muffins, cakes and cookies.  They also make excellent chutneys, sauces, relishes and dressings.  Cranberries make a great tasting and healthy juice.  They also add a colorful garnish to your Thanksgiving and Holiday table!

Many people also use cranberries for all types of crafts.  For a traditional Christmas tree, string popcorn and cranberries together and add to your tree.  They are a very colorful addition to holiday wreath.

See "Recipe" for another great way to enjoy our "fresh picked" cranberries!