GardenLine | Fruit to Grow and Pick | The Christmas-Cranberry Connection

"Availability is the pre-requisite for a relationship," a friend once told me. This saying may explain the now intimate relationship between cranberry sauce, the turkey, and Christmas. The first two were indigenous to North America, the third an import in need of accoutrements. It didn't take long for the tradition to take firm hold.

While cranberries had been harvested from bogs since the earliest days of settlement, commercial culture did not begin until the early 1800s. By 1830, a Mr. F.A. Hayden, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, had harvested 400 bushels, for which he was paid one dollar per bushel.

Thus began an industry which today, in Canada, produces approximately 5000 metric tons of cranberries annually, mainly from Quebec, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.

Why Cranberry?

Why is it called cranberry? The flower and its stem, just prior to opening, are said to resemble the head of a crane. In the course of usage over many years, "crane" has gradually been shortened to the "cran" in cranberry.

Native to acid bogs across northern North American, the commercial cultivation of the swamp cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) involves the construction of artificial bogs which can be periodically flooded and drained. The bogs are flooded to facilitate harvesting (see below). Cranberries demand both more acidity ( a pH of 3 to 5) and more moisture than blueberries, high organic matter, and full sun - definitely not your average prairie backyard fruit.

Biological Bits

The single flowers are found in the axils of the evergreen leaves. Although the flower buds are formed in August and September, they do not open until the following spring. The red fruit are small (1-2 cm/.4-.8 in.) and many-seeded. In order to develop large, regularly shaped fruit, good pollination is required. Berry size is correlated to the number of seeds per fruit - the more seeds, the larger the berry.

The plants survive the cold northern temperatures because of the insulating value of the snow or water which covers and protects them.

Harvest

Cranberries are usually harvested in September and October. Although, they can be hand-scooped (dry-harvested), most are mechanically harvested while the bogs are flooded. A reel-type machine is floated through the bog, beating the berries off the plant. The berries float on the water's surface. They are moved by wind to one corner of the bog (the cranberry corral?) where they are lifted by conveyor belt out of the water and into bulk containers.

Fresh cranberries can be stored at 2-4C with 90-95% relative humidity for 60-120 days; long enough to be available for the continuity of the Christmas cranberry turkey connection!

Williams is a specialist in horticulture with the Extension Division. This column is provided as a service by the Extension Division and the Department of Horticulture Science, University of Saskatchewan.

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Sustainable horticultural information, offered free of charge to the public with the support of the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division, the Department of Plant Sciences and the Provincial Government.