In the Red

Warrens, Wisconsin - It’s the little red berry we associate with holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It so happens the festive cranberry is one of only a handful of fruits native to North America.  Once upon a time, the bogs of Massachusetts’ coastal areas were the prime source of the tart little berries. Today, the state of Wisconsin wears the cranberry crown.

In fact, the cranberry is responsible for a three-day population explosion in Warrens, Wisconsin in late September.  About 400 townspeople play host to nearly 100-thousand visitors at the world’s largest cranberry festival. 

One out-of-stater says even a cold autumn rain can’t dampen this celebration of an American original: “We’ve been to cranfest the last five years.  It’s just a tradition for us.“       
                                                 
Not far from the festival, cranberry farmer Jim Van Wychen is in a good frame of mind, but he’s seeing red as he moves his picker through a sea of berries. His 125-acre farm is part of the most productive cranberry region in the Heartland: 100,000 acres spread through 18 counties. Cranberry farms in this area produce an astounding 280 million pounds of berries per year.

Van Wychen says two factors add up to the region’s success.

“You need a good supply of water. And the second thing is you need an acid type soil.”

The state best known for its dairy industry became king of the cranberry thanks to a transplanted New Yorker.  A man named Edward Sacket found 700 acres of wild berries on Wisconsin land he bought in the mid 1800s. His success in cultivating them brought plenty of followers. 

The wooden implements used in harvesting by those early pickers have given way to two modern techniques: so-called “dry harvesting” with a machine that looks a bit like a lawnmower, and the soggier version.

The technique of “wet harvesting” took off in the 1950’s with the development of specialized harvesting machinery. The cranberry vines, which grow best in sandy bogs and marshes, are flooded with about 10 inches of water. Since the berries float, it becomes a relatively simple matter for the harvester to roll in and pick them. 

Nodji Van Wychen explains. “It has teeth that comb through the fruit.  Plucks the fruit off the vine. It gradually goes up the front of the picker head, drops onto a conveyor belt, and drops into harvest bowls.”

The Van Wychens use the wet harvest method to pick the berries they sell as fresh. It keeps them from getting damaged or crushed.                                                     

 “We like to have a nice ruby red colored cranberry, and very nice and firm, says Nodji Van Wychen. “So there’s no bruise markings or soft spots.”

The berries will then be taken to be dried and milled in a small warehouse on the farm. The machine for that delicate job was built in the 1920s and used by Nodji’s grandfather.   

“A cranberry mill is a mechanical way of sorting good, firm berries from soft, poor berries with a very simple theory – that a good, firm berry will bounce and a bad one will not.”  Most of these berries will be made into products ranging from juice to jam. But the Wan Wychens also sell fresh berries right from their farm.  

The September visitors to the Cranberry Festival have plenty of chances to satisfy their own curiosity about the red berry with a bounce.  Local growers are happy to show off the harvest on a number of farm tours, and to offer their own “harvest” of ideas for making the cranberry more than a sidekick to holiday turkey and mashed potatoes.  

Finally, a historical note on the discovery of the “cranberry bounce”:  A New Jersey cranberry grower‘s fit of fatigue led to the invention that gave growers a boost back in the 1880s. A farmer named “Peg Leg” Webb chose not to carry his crop down from his barn’s storage loft rather, he poured them down the steps. Only the prime, firm berries reached the bottom the rest stayed on the steps.  The “cranberry bounce” soon led to the creation of the bounceboard an indispensable tool for separating good berries from bad.

Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association
www.wiscran.org

Cape Cod (Massachusetts) Cranberry Growers Association
www.cranberries.org