Cranberry Recipes, Facts and Tips

Looking for Cranberry Recipes, Facts and Tips in 2023?  Scroll down this page and  follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above.  If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.

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What's in season in December 2023, and other timely information:

Notes for December 2023: Summer is almost over and that means apples are here (see this new page for Apple Orchards in your area!), and except in northern areas, peaches and blueberries are finished. Some crops continue until frost, like raspberries, blackberries, figs, corn and tomatoes. Check your area's specific crop calendar (see this page) and call your local farms for seasonal updates.

See these pages to find a local Apple festival, and other festivals. We have a extensive guide to apple varieties and a guide to peach varieties. Also recipes, canning and freezing directions for apples, tomatoes, corn blueberries, peaches, etc.

And don't forget CORN MAZES are open now - find a local maze here.

See our comprehensive list of easy home canning, jam and jelly making, preserving, drying and freezing directions. You can access recipes and other resources from the drop down menus at the top of the page or the site search. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to write me! It is easy to make your own ice cream, even gelato, or low fat or low sugar ice cream - see this page. Also note, there are many copycat website listing U-pick farms now. The worst is the one that stole our name but ends with .farm.  (Yes, I've got lawyers on it)  They have all copied their information from here and usually do not ever update. Since 2002, I've been updating the information every day but Christmas; so if you see anything wrong or outdated, please write me!

Children's Consignment Sales are a great way to save money on clothes, toys, books, etc, They occur in both the Spring and Fall See our companion website to find a local community or church kid's consignment sale!

Cranberry Recipes, Facts and Tips

Cranberries aren't usually considered a PYO fruit, but in the northern cranberry growing areas there are a few farms that offer pick your own Cranberries! Cranberries are very rich in vitamin C and anti-oxidants! Recent research shows that cranberries are effective at preventing UTI's (urinary tract infections!).  In England the local variety is known as whortleberries, wortleberries or bilberries.  Where the name "worthleberry" or "whortleberry" comes from, I do not know; but you can find the low growing plants in Wales!

Cranberry season

Northern hemisphere: From mid September through November

Southern Hemisphere (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa): From mid April through June

See this page for cranberry festivals

Cranberry Recipes

• Cranberry sauce
• Cran-Apple Sauce
• Jellied Cranberry Sauce
• Cranberry conserve
• How to freeze cranberries

 

Cranberry Growing Facts

The American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) or lowbush cranberry is a fairly small plant. It's more like a scraggly vine that can grow along the ground for up to 6 ft and less than a foot tall. In the Spring, the vines send out runners with flowers than become the cranberries. While you may think of them as growing in a  swamp or bog, they are actually grown in a normal field, which surrounded by earthen walls, is only flooded briefly during harvest time in the Fall.

Since cranberries float due to an air pocket inside them. commercial farms flood the fields (called bogs)  then use water reels called "egg-beaters" to loosen the cranberries from the vines, freeing them to float to the surface of the water. They then use floating booms to corral the berries and draw them to a corner where they can rake them in.

Choosing good cranberries

Good cranberries float!  Mushy ones usually sink!

Pour them in to a large bowl of cold water, and swirl them around, scoop them out with your fingers, feeling for any mushy berries, as you scoop.  Discard any mushy, soft berries. The picture of the 4 berries shows you unripe through ripe.  I'd throw out the one on the far left, but use the other 3.

Good cranberries are firm, not mushy and dark red.  Firm and pale red are okay and usable just not ideal.

 

More Tips

• Don't wash cranberries until just before using to prevent spoilage.
• Keep cranberries cool after picking to increase shelf life.  The fruit/vegetable drawer of a refrigerator is perfect.
• Cranberries are ranked No. 1 in antioxidant activity and high in vitamin C compared with 40 other commercially available fruits and vegetables. That means a serving of cranberries has more of the antioxidant power you need to fight aging, cancer and heart disease.

More about Cranberries

Cranberries are one of only three fruits native to North America (plus Concord grapes and blueberries). They are grown commercially mainly in five states in the U.S. Wisconsin is the leading producer of cranberries, producing 62 percent of the U.S crop in 2017. The other top states are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington. Americans consume nearly 400 million pounds of cranberries per year, 20 percent of them during Thanksgiving week. The U.S. per capita consumption of cranberries is 2.3 pounds, almost entirely in the form of juice or juice blends. Cranberries are at the top of the list of healthy foods. Besides being high in vitamin C, manganese and fiber, cranberries are rich in phyto-nutrients (naturally derived plant compounds), particularly proanthocyanidin antioxidants, which are essential for all-round wellness. 

Farms (and bogs) to pick or get really fresh cranberries

Massachusetts

• A.D. Makepeace Company - two public pick-your-own cranberry tours in most years
  146 Tihonet Rd, Wareham, MA 02571. Our guided tours include a discussion of each growing season, touches upon the history of the cranberry industry and our company, allows for interaction with our farmers, includes the viewing of our wet harvest cranberry operation, and time for guests to dry harvest their own cranberries. The tour lasts approximately two hours. Very little walking is required. Guests will be able to dry harvest fresh cranberries by hand during the tour. Guests are allowed to keep the berries they harvest during the allotted harvest portion of the tour (approximately 30 minutes). Please note, this is a non-water harvest tour, no waders are required, appropriate dress and footwear required.

• Cape Cod National Seashore Pick wild cranberries with a ranger - November
  99 Marconi Site Road, Wellfleet, MA 02667. Phone: (508) 255-3421. A Cranberry Harvest Walk in Truro on Tuesday November 21 at 1 p.m. It is allowed to pick 1 gallon of cranberries per person per day for personal consumption. Directions: From Eastham and Wellfleet. Take Route 6 into Truro. After passing "Head of the Meadow" and "Pilgrim Heights," look for the small, green street sign "High Head" on the right. Turn right onto High Head Road. At the fork, bear left onto the dirt road (caution-this is a very bumpy road, go slow). Park in the bike trail parking lot.
  

• Cape Cod Cranberry Bog Tours -   tours, not picking
  The Governor Prence Inn, 66 Route 6A, Orleans, MA 02653. Phone: 508-237-5478. Email: info@capecodcranberrybogtours.com.  Open: Tours are given daily at 4 pm based on availability and weather, or other times by prior arrangement. Tours last approximately 1 hour. Tours are given daily in season at 4 pm, and can also be arranged by appointment 24 hrs in advance, based on availability and weather.You can tour the Cranberry Bog and learn about how cranberries are grown. Fresh fruit cranberries available while supplies last. From mid September through December you can buy and take them with you, or they will ship them for you. Be sure to call or email for availability of fresh fruit and tour information. Directions: (to The Governor Prence Inn) From Boston Area: Follow Route 3 South until you reach the Sagamore Rotary. Your second right off the rotary will be the Sagamore bridge - you cant miss it. Cross the Cape Cod Canal via the Sagamore Bridge, this will put you on Route 6 (The Mid-Cape Highway). Follow Route 6 until Exit 13 (The Orleans Rotary) and take the exit (1st right on rotary). This will place you on Route 6A, The Governor Prence is located approximately 1 mile from the rotary on the right, just beyond the intersection of Route 28.  From Western Massachusetts: Take Route 90 (The Mass Pike) eastward until you reach Route 495 South. Follow Route 495 towards Cape Cod and the highway will change to Route 25. Follow Route 25 East over the Bourne bridge and on to Cape Cod. Crossing the Bourne bridge will place you on the Bourne rotary, take your third right off the rotary and follow this road along the Cape Cod Canal. Turn right at the first traffic light onto Route 6 East. Follow Route 6 until Exit 13 (The Orleans Rotary) and take the exit (1st right on rotary). This will place you on Route 6A, The Governor Prence is located approximately 1 mile from the rotary on the right, just beyond the intersection of Route 28.
• Cape Farm Supply & Cranberry Company -
  

• Cranberry Bog Tours -
  1601 Factory Rd, Harwich, MA 02645. Phone: (508) 432-0790. Email: cranberrypig@comcast.net. Leo & Andrea Cakounes operate the largest organic cranberry bog on Cape Cod. Located in Harwich, MA, daily tours of the bog are offered seasonally. Learn about the 12 month operation of a cranberry bog. See the equipment and visit with the farm animals. Please visit our FAQs page to see if our tour is right for your summer fun. See tour times below and contact us here to book your tour. Tour Season Begins in April!  *Tours Fill Quickly ~ Reservations Required* Tour times vary, with tours 7 days a week. Please call for reservations and scheduled times.

• Flax Pond Farms -

  
  

• Mayflower Cranberries - No Public Tours or Events Scheduled for 2020
  Plympton, MA. Mayflower Cranberries LLC is a family cranberry farm owned by Jeff and Kim LaFleur. The 112 acre farm has 24 acres of active cranberry bogs. Located in Plympton, Massachusetts, the 112 acre farm has 23.6 acres of active cranberry bogs. We have two sons whom we hope will take over the family business someday. We opened the farm to visitors from around the world to fully experience the cranberry and all that goes into producing this red little berry.  ​We are Grower-Owners for Ocean Spray Cranberries, a farmer owned cooperative.

• Spring Rain Farm -
  692 Caswell Street, East Taunton, MA 02718. Phone: 508-824-3393. Email: info@springrainfarm.net. Directions: . Open: for strawberry picking from Tuesday to Sunday (Closed Mondays) from 10 AM to 6 PM. We close when there is lightning and thunder or if ripe fruit is all picked out. Our tours are all by appointment. Our berries are ready to eat beginning on Memorial Day.  They are ready early because they are planted on raised beds that are covered with black plastic. We select our strawberry varieties to be the sweetest tasting possible - not to be shipped across thousands of miles.  They have prepicked cranberries grown on the farms, too. PYO Strawberries, school tours
  Comment from a visitor on December 20, 2007: "They have pick your own strawberries, but we went to visit for the cranberries. The owner was fantastic - he gave us an hour long tour explaining the process of cranberry harvesting and showing us the bogs (we visited in November, so we missed the actual harvest). He had fresh cranberries available for sale - 1.50 lb, I believ

New Jersey

• Whitesbog Village -
  Brendan T. Byrne State Forest;
  September 29th - October 7th - Cranberry Harvest Hikes / Multiple Times Each Day
  Oct. 3rd - Cranberry Celebration from 10 am - 4 pm
• Pine Barrens Native Fruits -
  Phone: 609-500-1074. Open: Mon - Fri, 8 AM to 4 PM
• Pinelands Adventures - tours at a dry-harvest cranberry farm, Saturdays and Sundays in October.
  (The link also has a short video of a dry-harvester.)

Wisconsin

• Lake Nokomis Cranberries - late September through mid October
  Eagle River, WI. Phone:  (715) 479-6546.. Guided tours and fresh cranberries sales during the harvest season.
• Manitowish Waters Cranberry Marsh Tours -
  Manitowish Waters, WI. Phone: (715) 543-8488.  Tours from the first Friday after July 4th through the first Friday of October.
• Wetherby Cranberry Company - Public Harvest Day Always the first Saturday of October from 9am to 12pm, last tour leaving at 11:30am, Rain or shine
  Warrens, WI. Phone: (608) 378-4813.
  Reservations are required, please call; No reservations necessary. Private tours are available for a fee, Available Monday-Friday.
• Wisconsin Cranberry Highway -
  This self-guided drive across central Wisconsin's cranberry area, from Wisconsin Rapids to Warrens. Click here for a map of the Cranberry Highway. To view the 2020 Cranberry Highway map and brochure Click Here.

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Weights and Approximate Typical Processed Yields of Cranberries

Cranberry Conversions
1 cup =	110 grams
	1/4 pound

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