Have you ever seen the Oceanspray©️ commercial where the man is wearing waders with cranberries floating all around him? Not being a cranberry connoisseur myself, I wondered, ”Do cranberries grow in the water?” Well, the Cunningham Crew got to find out first-hand, when we participated in a bog tour!

Spending six months living along the shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the producer of 60% of the world’s cranberry supply, we were fortunate enough to witness the year-round growing cycle of this special fruit:

• December thru March – The fields, otherwise known as bogs, are flooded to protect the cranberry vines from bugs and frost
• Around Mid-March – The fields are drained and the vines slowly come out of dormancy
• Mid-late June – The vines bloom and are ready for pollination
• Summer months – The cranberries grow low to the ground and and begin to ripen
• Mid-September thru November – Harvest Time!

Cranberry Harvest

When the cranberries are ripe-for-the-picking, there are two techniques used for harvesting. The first is dry harvesting, which uses a machine to comb the berries off the vines. The second type is called wet harvesting, which involves thousands of gallons of water, donning some waders, and rounding up millions of cranberries.

The night before harvest, the bogs are flooded with roughly 18 inches of water. The next morning, the growers use water reel machines, affectionately referred to as “egg beaters,” to knock the cranberries off the vines. Then, because each cranberry contains a unique built-in air pocket, it floats to the surface and awaits round-up. Finally, the berries are corralled and then poured into trucks where they are shipped off to become all kinds of cranberry goodness.

During our tour, we not only witnessed harvest up close (although we didn’t get to put on waders and get in the water 😢), but we also learned a ton of cool facts about cranberries! Here are just a few!

• The cranberry is the official state berry of Massachusetts
• Cranberries are one of the few native fruits to North America
• Only about 5% of cranberries are sold fresh. The rest are dried, canned, etc.
• On Thanksgiving, Americans consume 5,062,500 gallons of cranberry sauce!
• Cranberries are rich in Vitamin C and offer great cardiovascular and urinary tract health benefits
• Massachusetts boasts 14,000 acres of cranberry production

Taking a cranberry bog tour was definitely a unique treat and a must-do if you ever get the chance to visit Massachusetts during harvest time. We learned more than we ever thought possible about this tiny little super fruit!