Massachusetts is second only to Wisconsin as the largest state producer of cranberries in the United States. Here is how they get to your food plate or drinking glass........
Cranberries grow on vines in sandy soil. They don't grow in water - but rather the bogs are flooded at harvest time to facilitate the harvesting operation (it is possible to dry-harvest but is more labor-intensive to do so).
After flooding the bog, the ripe berries are loosened from the vines with this mower-like machine. The berries then float to the surface.
The floating loose berries are then corralled to prepare for collection and shipment.
The white pipe at the bottom of the picture sucks the berries out of the corral and up into the truck for loading.
The berries receive a final rinse and visual inspection to remove any unwanted leaf or twig debris.
Then, the berries are loaded into the truck for shipment to a final processing/packaging facility.
Cranberries are the official state berry of Massachusetts - bet you didn't know we even had a state berry? And cranberry juice is the official beverage - who'd have thought that up?
As the collection progresses, the loop is continuously tightened by the workers, steadily shrinking the circle until all the berries are loaded. (See the video clip at the end of this post to watch the berries being collected into the hose).
And when the truck is full, the berries head down the road to become food or drink.
In the "gee whiz" department, did you know that John Lennon said "cranberry sauce" at the end of the song, "Strawberry Fields Forever?"
Video clip of cranberry harvesting.
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