Swaths of crimson berries dot the countryside in Southeastern Massachusetts. Cranberry season is underway and on a bog in Wareham, Keith Mann, 41, a fourth-generation grower (pictured above) and his crew of five are dry picking organic cranberries on roughly four acres. Dry picked berries are sold exclusively as fresh fruit; (most berries are harvested after flooding the bog, which is less labor intensive, and are used strictly for sauces, juices, and other processed foods). In Mann’s bogs, workers use a mechanical picker, which resembles a lawn mower, to cut a 2-foot path through the bog. The machine’s rotating teeth comb the vines to separate the berries, which travel up a chute and into burlap bags. Each bag holds up to 50 pounds of fruit. That day, Mann harvests 20,000 pounds of fruit.
From here, berries are placed on a flat bed truck and driven to the screen house at Mann Farms in Buzzard’s Bay. Inside the green wooden and concrete wood-and-concrete building, a dechaffing de-chaffing machine shakes twigs and vines from the fruit. The cranberries pass through a 100-year-old separator, where they undergo a bounce test through a chute equipped with 3-inch-high barriers. Berries that bounce seven times are keepers. The rest are used for processed foods or compost. Mann grows both conventional and organic cranberries on several tracts spread over 150 acres in Buzzards Bay and Wareham. Packaged as Orcranics cranberries, they are sold fresh at some Whole Foods Markets. Another label, Jonathan’s Organic, is available at some Stop & Shop markets, Shaw’s, Roche Bros., Hannaford Supermarkets, and Price Chopper. Conventional berries are sold to Ocean Spray for making the foods that add ruby color to your fall menus. WENDY MAEDA
Once a month, Globe staff photographer Wendy Maeda takes you behind the scenes at a restaurant, farm, or food business in New England. To see Keith Mann on his bog, go to www.boston.com/food.
