Cranberry Harvest
November 26th, 2008
Recently we got to help our friends harvest their cranberry bog on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. When I say we got to help, I mean that my hubby husband worked and I took photos.
First the bogs are flooded. This is known as a “wet harvest”. The berries have already been paddled to loosen them off their vines. Not even sure if they’re on vines. Cranberries that have gone through a wet harvest will end up being processed into drinks and cranberry-stuff-in-cans.
The cranberries are corralled like an oil spill. My husband’s 19 years in the Coast Guard has certainly come in handy.
The cranberries are pulled and pushed, and making sure none escape.
The cranberries are raked and guided to the big green stairway.
Cranberry rain.
My husband (left) and “the Cranman” (right) get the cranberries settled into their crates.
The cranberries are now almost ready for the trip to Ocean Spray.
Next stop. Ocean Spray.
I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the warehouse. In a nutshell… the cranberries were weighed, poured into a giggly thing, traversed on this belt and into a wiggly thing, then poured into crates and loaded onto a semi-truck. Destination unknown. I was allowed to take photos in the “lab”. My husband and I got a thorough tour of how the cranberries are sampled and tested. Lots of big words chock-full of consonants that escape me now. Color is checked, acid levels, this and that levels. Touched. Rolled. Squeezed. Blended.
So if you open a can of Ocean Spray cranberry jelly, and you hear that slurp-woosh-goosh sound as you free the jellied log-o-cranberry from it’s tin prison… that’s just the sound of me wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted in How I Live |
Farting around with needle & thread and then blogging about it.
Super interesting! Sounds almost like Dirty Jobs, minus some dirty. Thanks for sharing the photos!
November 26th, 2008I’ll never look at another cranberry again without thinking of it’s long, arduous journey to my table! What a great “cranny primer” Monica! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Cheers!
November 26th, 2008Your story was awesome. It’s even funnier if you accidentally read “cranny” as “tranny”.
November 26th, 2008First off, gotta love Mike Rowe. A friend wants to marry him. He is a real hoot and not bad to look at either. Anyway, I loved the tour of the cranberry harvesting and the opportunity to meet your hubby. Now when I eat any kind of cranberry product, I will envision the hard work of your husband and friend and have Purple Rain whirling in my brain. Happy Thanksgiving!! Have a terrific day.
November 26th, 2008This is so COOOOOOOOL!!!! I had no idea how they were harvested. I’m going to go hug my bag of cranberries!!! Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26th, 2008Cranberry Heaven! What an interesting story of how it all goes together and what charming photos! Thanks for sharing this amazing journey for most of us who will never get to see the real thing! Awesome!
November 26th, 2008Ahhh I’ll be thinking of you when I hear that cranny swoosh tomorrow. I heart me some jellied crannies my friend. I wish I was there. I remember back in Martha’s hey days she went to a cranny harvest in main so I had seen it, but never so up close, and never ever so personal.
Now I need to go reread it Tranny style. That’s how I roll. xo
November 26th, 2008Top secret cranberry stuff going on in there huh? Interesting stuff those crannys. Have a great Thanksgiving!
November 26th, 2008wow so neat to see that ..you did your own FOOD network blog.. Happy Thanksgiving.
November 26th, 2008Looks like fun. I love the long beach penisula.
November 27th, 2008What a lovely bit of cranberry knowledge you’ve imparted to us. I’m glad you get to do these things and then share with us! ;)
November 27th, 2008Wow! I learn something new every time I come here Monica! I make my own cranberry relish…overcooked it last night because I’m so used to doubling the recipe. Oh well. It’ll still taste good, and I’ll be thinking of their colorful life before they got here when I’m eating later today. :-)
November 27th, 2008Have a good one!
Thanks so much for the great trip to cranberry heaven! I’ll never eat another cranberry without thinking about your wonderful tutorial. Thanks. And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
November 27th, 2008Yo, Monica, you get an A+ for your report on cranberry harvesting. Show that to your ninth grade science teacher! The Cranman and I are so proud. Next year we should plan an Everybody-Come-to-the-Bog day, and all your readers from near and far could come see it in person. I’d even make pecan sticky buns!
November 27th, 2008Oh wow!! Thank you for sharing this. I’ve always wondered how they harvest cranberries and why they are always in water.
November 27th, 2008LOLS! I especially love your technical terms, wiggly and giggly. Very scientific!
November 27th, 2008thank you very much for that post, how fun and interesting !!! i had no idea !
November 28th, 2008I’ll never look at another cranberry the same again, and wonder “Where did you come from and how did you get in that can?” because I’ll know; all because of you and your field trip to the cranberry factory. Thanks! :)
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
November 28th, 2008I’m sitting near a big plate of cranberries right now, fortuitous!
p.s. we’re still watching seinfeld’s non-stop! Thanks again!
November 28th, 2008Secret Agent Berry! I’m pretty sure they make tiny little incognito sunglasses for those guys!
November 28th, 2008Great field trip, great report. You know how I feel about cranberries!
Wow, that was Crantastic! I am now picturing Mike Rowe covered in cranberry sauce . . . is that so wrong?!?!
November 28th, 2008The cranberries in my Thanksgiving salad may have been from right there! And how I love them, they make a great holiday dish.
November 29th, 2008I adore cranberrys! what a great post!
November 29th, 2008Just like the commercial. We strung cranberries on our tree this year. I’ve never done that before. It was fun and it is way cute.
November 29th, 2008I had a love from the comments underneath the pictures :)
November 30th, 2008Last few years our supermarket is full with cranberry things from Ocean Spray too. It’s something i buy a lot now, but can’t remember we ever had it before. It’s fun to see the cranberries be harvested on the other side of the world :)
laugh, not love ;-)
November 30th, 2008Your photos are excellent! I wish I had been there. Do your friends let you keep some of their harvest? What a cool experience.
I thought this was a great piece of journalistic work- who needs Mike Rowe anyway?*
*Also- who the dickens is this guy?
December 1st, 2008Oh my, what fun! Your photos could be used in a magazine spread. They’re great!
December 1st, 2008ahh do I know cranberries since we live in cranberry country here in MA!! Actually in high school we used to hang and party at the bogs!
December 1st, 2008Beautiful photos — and a darn fine description of harvest, too. I’m glad you didn’t have to jump in and push the berries around. I’m pleased to report that I’ve managed to avoid that wet job my entire life. I’ve never dug a razor clam, either!
Sally
December 1st, 2008Oh MY GOSH! That looks like so much fun! I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to work in a cranberry bog. I will think of you and your darling husband every time I take a sip of my Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice that I love so much. :) Thanks for giving me another chance to think of you my sweet friend. :)
December 1st, 2008What a delightful look behind the scenes at Ocean Spray and a cranberry harvest. My husband loves drinking cranberry juice so we often have many bottles of it in the cupboard waiting for their turn in the fridge. Personally I prefer cosmos. :-)
December 4th, 2008I am late, late, late in wishing you and yours a Happy Thanks-Cranny Day! I heart cranberries, so this post was cranny-luscious to me! Thank you ever so muchly for the great photos and inspiring descriptions. I will think of you every time I look at a cranberry now. That’s a good thing, right? Of course it is!!!!
December 5th, 2008wow, I had no idea Cranberries grew in water or a bog… they are not common in Australia and have only noticed them in our supermarkets in the last few years. I certainly dont know of them growing here. I shall look now for the Ocean Spray brand to see if we get it..thanks for educating me.. Helen
December 15th, 2008Thank you for that! I think you should follow Mike Rowe along, take pictures, and then post them for all of us who are too busy to watch the show because we are blogging! Seriously though, I’ll show this to my kids, we love the commercial and here’s the sequel! Thanks!
January 13th, 2009