Cranberry

[Durgan]

http://xrl.us/r93c Cranberry 15 October 2006.

The festival is starting soon for 2007. It is well worth a trip.

Bala, Ontario was visited today. (2006) The small village in the Precambrian area of Ontario is touted as the Cranberry Capital of Ontario. This was the first time I had an opportunity to see the harvest of cranberries. The pictures depict the area and method of harvesting.

The growing area is flooded with water and the floating berries are then harvested.

Only 114 acres are under production in Ontario, but many areas are suitable for growing the native North American fruit. Johnston's Cranberry Marsh and the Iroquois Cranberry Growers are still the only two commercial cranberry farms in Ontario. Started about 1951.

Apparently there is a glut of cranberries in the market, and aggresssive marketing efforts are being taken to encourage world demand. Wisconsin produces about half the cranberries in the USA.

There is little juice in cranberries, and this was reflected in the price of a liter of pure juice, which cost $10.00 at the festival. There was one other new innovation to me anyway, and that was small red candy cranberry on a round toothpick, similar to the ubiquious candy apple.

It was a pleasant and informative trip of about 500 km.
Durgan.