Berries That Float: Checking Words in a Cranberry Article

A Harvest on the Water

1Cranberries are small, sour, red berries. They grow on low vines in wet, sandy fields called bogs. Over time, the thin vines have wound their way across the ground and formed a thick green mat. A healthy bog can produce berries for many years. Cranberries first grew wild in North America. Long ago, many Native American peoples gathered the wild berries for food and used their juice to make a red dye.

2Most cranberries are picked in the fall. On many farms, workers flood the bog with water before the harvest. Then they drive machines slowly through the water. The machines stir the water and shake the berries loose from the vines. Each cranberry has minute pockets of air inside it, so the loose berries float to the top. Soon the bog looks like a bright red lake.

3Next, workers in waterproof pants and boots wade into the bog. They use long floating barriers to push the berries together into one corner. A pump or a moving belt lifts the berries out of the water and into a truck. This way of picking is called a wet harvest. Most berries picked this way are made into juice, sauce, or dried fruit.

4Some farmers pick their berries dry instead. They use a machine with metal teeth that combs the berries off the vines. Berries picked dry stay firm and fresh longer, so most of them are sold as fresh produce. Shoppers can find bags of them at the store in the fall and early winter.

5Fresh cranberries can even bounce! Firm berries bounce well, but soft or bruised ones do not. Some sorting machines use this to check the berries. The berries tumble down a set of small steps, and only the firm ones bounce over a low wall. The soft berries are left behind, so the best berries go on to the store.