Fun Facts

• The cranberry gets its name from Dutch and German settlers, who nicknamed it the "crane berry" after the shape of the blossoms. When the vines bloom in the late spring and the flowers' light pink petals twist back they have a resemblance to the head and bill of a crane. Over time, the name was shortened to cranberry.
• The cranberry is one of only a handful of major fruits native to North America. Others include the blueberry and Concord grape.
• A barrel of cranberries weighs 100 pounds. Give or take a few, there are about 450 cranberries in a pound, 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of freshly pressed juice and 45,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel. Seven of 10 cranberries sold in the world today come from Ocean Spray.
• Cranberries are primarily grown in five U.S. states " Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington " as well as British Columbia and Quebec, Canada.
• Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. A perennial plant, cranberries grow on low-running vines in sandy bogs and marshes. Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit is ready for harvesting. Others are harvested using machines that resemble lawnmowers that "comb" fresh cranberries off the vines.
• If all the cranberry bogs in North America were put together, they would comprise an area equal in size to the tiny island of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, which is approximately 47 square miles. If you strung all the cranberries produced in North America last year, they would stretch from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times.
• On average, every acre of cranberry bog is supported by 4 to 10 acres of wetlands, woodlands and uplands. This area offers refuge to a rich variety of wildlife including the bald eagle, osprey, great blue heron, fox, deer and wild turkey.
• Cranberries bounce! Small pockets of air inside the fruit cause the fresh fruit to bounce. It is also what makes berries float in water, which is how many cranberries are harvested.
• The majority of cranberry growers are multi-generational families, some fifth and sixth generation, with two to three generations working and living together on their farms.
• Some cranberry bogs are more than 100 years old and still produce today.
• The hearty cranberry vine thrives in conditions that would not support most other crops- acidic soil with few nutrients, and can withstand low temperatures.
• Americans consume some 400 million pounds of cranberries a year, 20 percent during Thanksgiving week.
• The popularity of the cranberry is growing internationally. Cranberries are used as ingredients in thousands of products around the world, from cereals to salsas.
• Documentation proves that the cranberry was grown and harvested in Dennis, Massachusetts (on Cape Cod) in 1816, the first recorded yield in cranberry history.
• Native Americans used cranberries, fat and ground venison to make a survival cake known as pemmican. They also used the fruit in poultices and fabric dyes.
• Legend has it that Pilgrims served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, along with wild turkey and succotash.
• American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century.
• During World War II, American troops required about one million pounds of dehydrated cranberries a year.
• In the 1880s, a New Jersey grower named John "Peg Leg" Webb discovered the "cranberry bounce." Instead of carrying his crop down from the storage loft of his barn, he poured them down the steps. Only the freshest, firmest fruit reached the bottom; rotten or bruised berries remained on the steps. This discovery led to the invention of bounceboards, which helped growers separate rotten berries that didn't bounce from the fresh ones.

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