Harvesting Cranberries

It is easy to tell when it’s time for cranberries to be harvested because of their signature red hue, shining out to the world that the berry is ripe for the picking.  If the berries are still lighter in color, you will need to wait a few more weeks before harvesting your cranberries.  For those who don’t have the patience or will power, mature but not fully ripe cranberries can still be made into white cranberry juice, a very healthy and popular drink.  In general, most cranberries reach their peak ripe stage in late September or early October.

The majority of cranberries in the United States are wet-picked once they are ripe.  Wet-picking is the safest and easiest way to pick a large number of cranberries at one time.  The process requires for the bog or marsh in which the cranberries are growing to be flooded an estimated 6 to 8 inches above the vines.  The amount of water is predetermined and adjusted based on the total acreage used for cultivating cranberries.  After the area is filled with water, a motorized picking machine, or harvester, is driven through the beds in order to separate the berries from the vine.  The driver must continue in circles, slowly spiraling towards the center in order to ensure that every vine is amply picked.  Once the individual cranberries are detached from the vine, the fruit will float to the top making it much easier to mass-collect the cranberries.  The floating cranberries are herded to the corner of the bed so that they can be collected in a single area for transportation. Read More »