The Yuzhsky district is considered one of the most environmentally friendly in the region - there are a lot of mushrooms and berries here. A week ago, mushroom pickers competed in Yuzha, and last weekend cranberry lovers gathered in one of the swamps.
The safest place was selected for 19 teams.
However, a swamp is a swamp. It’s difficult to find a completely flat area, and even for cranberries to grow,” said one of the organizers. - We specially fenced all the water holes with flags.
The swamp that day could be compared to the Arbat. 60 people picked berries in a fairly limited space. Many complained that they were given too little time - only three hours.
At first we didn’t come across any berries at all,” complained Olga Vagina, who competed for the Southern Electric Networks team. - As soon as we found a good place, a simulated rocket fired - the competition ended.
The electricians had high hopes for their colleague Alexander Gruzdev. It’s not for nothing that he is called a forest man - he can pick a bag of cranberries in a day. Picking mushrooms and berries is a hobby for him. But on the eve of the start, Alexander fell ill, so the power engineers were beaten by representatives of the southern enterprise Avtomobilist. The three of them collected almost 20 kilograms of berries. By the way, in the last competition the winners did not score even seven. So it’s been a productive year for cranberries. The first individual place went to the youngest participant, 20-year-old Alexander Sadilov. He explained his success, expressed in almost 9 kilograms of berries, quite simply:
Yes, I just collected and didn’t get distracted. Everyone around was talking and joking, and I took it for myself and took it. The anti-record of the competition was set by a participant who honestly admitted:
In this swamp, for the first time in my life, I saw berries growing. I just wanted to participate. The judges did not waste time on trifles and generously rounded up her harvest to 500 grams.
SPECIFICALLY
Where to go for cranberries
MEANWHILE
The Vologda region is entirely cranberry swamps. We called one of the wholesale berry suppliers, the famous Vologda businessman Mikhail Surov. Mikhail Vasilyevich ended up in Sweden, and not on vacation: he went there just to conclude agreements on the supply of cranberries.
Our people harvest no more than a tenth of the forest harvest,” Surov complained. - The rest of the berries remain in the swamp for the birds and animals.
Most of the harvest is sold on the Russian market, but there are regular consumers of Vologda cranberries in Sweden and Finland.
However, sellers at the city market are less optimistic in their forecasts. In their opinion, there are not so many cranberries this year. Therefore, the price for a five-liter bucket both in the market and on the highway is considerable - 250 rubles. Although, they believe, it may still be possible to reach the usual volume, because the collection of berries in the regions so far takes no more than 10 days.
By the way, the local population harvests berries for free, and special “forest tickets” are required from hunters. Violators of the rules and deadlines for collecting berries will face severe punishment: for each full and partial kilogram of illegally harvested resources, they will have to pay double the cost of what was collected, and all harvested products will be confiscated from them.
At the end of 2016, global cranberry consumption increased by 4% to 664 thousand tons. In 2007-2016 showed a generally growing trend with an average annual growth rate of +6.1%; after a slight failure in 2009-2010. The market volume quickly recovered and continued to grow steadily.
According to research from the website Ssia, in value terms, the global cranberry market grew to $3,263 million in 2016. This figure reflects the total revenue of producers and exporters, and does not take into account retail markups, taxes, transport and other costs, which are then usually included in the consumer price.
Amount of apparent cranberry consumption
The largest volume of consumption in 2016 occurred in the USA (69% in volume terms) and Canada (19%). The remaining countries remain far behind the leaders in terms of consumption: Great Britain (4%), Turkey (2%), China (1%) and other countries with smaller shares in world consumption. The highest average annual growth rates of cranberry consumption from 2007 to 2016 were observed in China (+27.9%), the UK (+17.0%) and Canada (+15.6%).
Among the leading consuming countries, the highest per capita consumption is observed in Canada (3.59 kg/person in 2016) and the USA (1.42 kg/person), which is significantly higher than the global average per capita consumption of 0.09 kg/person . China had the lowest per capita consumption of 0.01 kg/person. – the colossal population determines low per capita consumption, but, on the other hand, this indicates low market saturation and the potential for its growth in the future.
Cranberry market volume, in physical terms, 2007-2016. (thousand tons)
Market structure: production, export, import, consumption
World cranberry production reached 684 thousand tons by 2016. Over the past six years, this figure has grown steadily. At the same time, from 2007 to 2010. Cranberry production volumes fluctuated noticeably, but subsequently began a steady increase until 2016.
The United States remains the world's leading cranberry-producing country. In 2016, production in the USA increased to 400 thousand tons, which is about 58% of world output. Other major producers were the following countries: Canada (24%), Chile (15%) and Türkiye (2%).
At the same time, for the period from 2007 to 2016, the highest average annual growth rate of cranberry production in the world was observed in Chile (+18.8% on average per year). In other countries, positive production dynamics were also observed, but with more modest growth rates.
In 2016, the volume of world cranberry exports increased to 188 thousand tons, which is 9% more than a year earlier. From 2007 to 2016 global exports show steady growth.
In physical terms, the largest volume of supplies comes from exporters from Chile (101 thousand tons or 54% of total exports in 2016). Chile is followed by suppliers from Canada (34%), the Netherlands (6%), the USA (3%) and other countries. For the period from 2007 to 2016, the highest average annual growth rates of supplies among the leading countries were noted in Chile (+19.2% per year) and the Netherlands (+33.4% per year). Stable supplies from Canada come almost entirely from the United States, which is due to high demand in this country, geographic proximity and the relative cheapness of Canadian cranberries. At the same time, if Chile really becomes one of the world's largest producers and suppliers of cranberries, then the increase in supplies from the Netherlands is interconnected with the increase in imports - spacers from the Netherlands are most likely a re-export of products to other countries.
Chile (+30 p.p. from 2007 to 2016) strengthened its position in global cranberry exports in volume terms, while the shares of supplies from Canada (-18 p.p.) and the USA (-15 p.p.) decreased noticeably. The shares of other countries in the structure of world exports remained relatively unchanged over the period under review.
Cranberry exports, in volume terms, by country, 2016 (%, in volume terms)
The volume of world cranberry imports in 2016 amounted to 168 thousand tons. The dynamics of imports generally corresponded to the dynamics of exports. During the period from 2007 to 2016. The volume of cranberry imports in the world increased with an average annual growth rate of +11.1%.
The USA (63 thousand tons or 37% of total imports in physical terms in 2016) remains the main importer of cranberries in the world. Supplies to the USA increased with an average annual growth rate of about +4.2% for the period from 2007 to 2016. In addition to the USA, major importers of cranberries are Canada (17%), Great Britain (16%), the Netherlands (10%), China (5% ), Norway (2%) and Germany (1%).
While the share of imports to the United States in total world cranberry imports decreased by 29 percentage points. from 2007 to 2016, the shares of Canada (+3 p.p.), Great Britain (+6 p.p.), the Netherlands (+6 p.p.), China (+4 p.p.) and other countries are slightly grew up. This trend indicates that while previously the United States was the largest consumer of cranberries and imported part of the products to cover growing demand, in the last ten years the demand for cranberries has increased in other countries, which leads to the geographical diversification of the world cranberry trade.
Cranberry imports, in volume terms, by country, 2016 (%, in volume terms)
World cranberry market: Development forecast
In the near term, it is predicted that overall consumption rates in the cranberry market will continue to grow: the average annual growth rate will be +3.1% by 2025. There is a risk that production in the US and Canada will be limited to cranberry producers themselves due to rapidly falling domestic prices for the product, reducing overall global production. However, with the development of storage and production technologies, as well as growing demand both from developing countries in Asia, primarily China, and key cranberry consuming countries, the situation on the global cranberry market will remain favorable.
August 7th, 2016
I once wrote a post on this topic, but with great interest I watched the blogger’s excellent report about cranberry picking. See for yourself:
Original taken from anton_belousov V
I wanted a little National Geographics style, so 10 minutes of driving and we will be transported for a short time to New India. Well, like to India - to eastern Richmond, which is in the nearest suburb of Vancouver, on the opposite bank of the Fraser River. Here in the cranberry fields the harvest has ripened, which, in itself, is not a reason for celebration (although in some towns it is a reason, and what a reason at that), if not for the spectacle of how it is harvested - when in Vancouver you will see a flooded sea of red berries ?
Moreover, the total area of all cranberry bogs in North America is only 12 thousand hectares (120 km 2)
IN English The plant received the name “cranberry” for the shape of its flowers, reminiscent of a long crane’s neck with a long beak.
I didn’t get a crane, but I caught a heron against a red background.
Cranberries taste sour and are somewhat reminiscent of apples (I caught a couple of them from the swamp).
In general, this is one of the most nutritious berries, rich in vitamin With, potassium and iron, organic acids and antioxidants.
When America became independent, cranberries were carried on the ships of the American fleet as a source of vitamin C - to boost the immunity of the crew. The British at that time stocked their ships with supplies of lime.
One of the specific properties of cranberries is the ability to enhance the effect of antibiotics several times.
It also has bactericidal and antimicrobial properties.
These berries are a natural analogue of aspirin.
Some towns in British Columbia celebrate the cranberry harvest, such as Fort Langley, which hosts a cranberry festival every year on Thanksgiving weekend.
According to legend, cranberries may have been part of the Indians' gift to the Pilgrims on that historic Thanksgiving Day in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
If you want to see the cranberry harvest in Vancouver with your own eyes...
When?
From mid-October to early November. We arrived on Saturday, October 18th at the Maybog Farms field, but it was collected, although 2 minutes away - at No. 7 Road - work was in full swing.By the way, workers also work on weekends, so you don’t have to go to the fields on a weekday to see the harvesting process.
Cranberry is a wild berry, which in the old days almost entire villages went to collect. And even today in the fall, in remote swampy places, you can often meet enthusiasts carrying entire backpacks of sour “zharavika”. Such zeal is justified. Cranberries have a complex of substances beneficial to the body and are used not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine. Therefore, the cost of a jar of berries on the market reaches 1000 rubles. Details about where and how cranberries grow and what the ripening time are are in this material.
Cranberries - general information and varieties
This plant of the Ericaceae family can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Cranberries belong to the genus Vaccinium and are closely related to blueberries, blueberries and lingonberries.
There are four types of wild cranberries:
Ordinary
An evergreen subshrub growing in the northern and temperate latitudes of the Eurasian continent. The shoots are creeping, long (up to 80 cm), thin, woody, brown in color. Flowering shoots are raised, leaves are ovate, 5-10 mm long, petiolate, with an alternate arrangement. The color of the leaf blades on top is dark green, on the bottom – bluish, with a waxy coating. It blooms in May-June with reddish-pink drooping flowers. Ripens by September. Fruit diameter – up to 16 mm .
Small-fruited
Another Eurasian species, a Pleistocene relic. The shoots are creeping, thread-like, about 30 cm long. The leaves are small, 3-6 mm, leathery, dark green on top. The underside of the leaf blade is bluish. The flowers are small, pink. Fruits with a diameter of 5-8 mm, ripen from late July to August. The species is listed in the Red Books of many regions of Russia (Voronezh, Lipetsk, Ryazan, etc.).
Large-fruited
Widely distributed in Canada and the USA, where the northern border of its growth lies along the 51st parallel. The leaves of the subshrub are oblong, turn burgundy in the fall, and regain their green color in the spring. The fruits are large – up to 25 mm in diameter, carried on long shoots to a height of up to 30 cm. Starts to sing in mid-September. Cultivated large-fruited varieties are developed from American wild cranberries.
Vaccinium redfruit
Has two subspecies. The first is common in North America in the Southern Appalachians. The second is in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea). Deciduous shrub, grows in partial shade of mountain forests. The berries ripen in late August - mid-September.
The Latin name for cranberries, Oxycoccus, means “sour ball.” It also has many popular names: stonefly, zharavika, zharavitsa, swamp grapes, bear berry, etc. In some places, cranberries are called “craneberries.” Most likely, this word reflects the similarity of the plant’s flowers with the head of a crane.
The fruits of all types of cranberries are valued for their high content of vitamin C and anthocyanins. This is an indispensable natural remedy against inflammatory genitourinary diseases.. Many scientists believe that cranberries should be included in the list of foods required for cancer prevention.
How and where do cranberries grow?
The Delaware Indians had a legend according to which cranberries grow in the battlefields of ancient giants - where their blood was shed. This makes some sense. Cranberries are a berry of peat, tundra and sphagnum bogs, and their age ranges from 12 thousand to 400 million years.
In Russia, cranberries grow in damp coniferous forests, swampy lowlands, and old peat bogs.. It is widespread in the European part of the country, in Karelia, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Siberia. The northern border of its range runs in the area Arctic Circle(forest-tundra zones). From the south, the cranberry growing area is limited by the 62nd parallel and coincides with the boundaries of the swamps.
For normal development, cranberries require a lot of light and clean water. It grows poorly in environmentally unfavorable places, so near major cities cranberry “palestines” cannot be found. This berry is not demanding on the mineral composition of the soil.. The roots of the shrub form a symbiosis with soil fungi, which help the plant “get food.” Cranberries choose soils that are more acidic, easily tolerating a pH of up to 2.5.
When does the berry begin to ripen and the harvest time in Russia?
Cranberries can be harvested in summer, autumn and spring. Most often they begin to collect it in the fall - in September-October, before frost. However, a distinctive feature of cranberry fruits is the ability to overwinter on the plant. Frost does not damage the berries, but only accumulates sugar. This is why many people prefer to pick cranberries not in the fall, but in the spring.
The chemical composition as a percentage per 100 g of fruit is as follows:
The ratio of these elements varies depending on the growing conditions and the time of berry picking.
Summer harvest cranberries are firm, white or not fully colored. Over time, it ripens, but retains a lot of acid and does not gain the required amount of sugar. This berry is neither tasty nor juicy. Ripened cranberries have less nutrients, more bitterness, and are poorly stored.
When picking, pay attention to the color of the fruit. Experienced pickers prefer to take cranberries that have acquired a dark purple hue. It is believed that in such a berry the concentration of biologically active substances is maximum.
Harvesting cranberries in autumn
Spring cranberries that have overwintered under the snow are much sweeter than autumn ones, but there is almost no vitamin C left in them. Autumn harvest berries contain more pectin, which matters if the fruits are intended for processing or confectionery use. Microorganisms responsible for fermentation processes remain active on the skin of autumn cranberries. Therefore, this berry is better suited for winemaking.
Due to the reduced percentage of acid, snowy spring cranberries are stored worse. The transportability of autumn-picked berries is also better.
How are cranberries harvested?
At industrial cultivation Cranberry harvesting is often mechanized. Plantations are established in special peat pits-clusters. When the harvest time comes, water is supplied to the clusters through pipes, and the plantation is flooded to a depth of about half a meter.
Cranberry fruits are light, so they float to the surface. Then a tracked harvester equipped with combs at the front and rear is released onto the plantation. The machine picks the berries, which can only be collected with nets.
Mechanized harvesting of cranberries on an industrial plantation
But manual picking of cranberries - hard physical labor. After walking for many hours through a swamp with mosquitoes and horseflies, the picker has to squat for a long time, pushing apart the tangles of shoots and picking off the berries one by one. Therefore, many try to facilitate the process with the help of special devices.
Nowadays you can find many models of fruit harvesters for berries on sale. Some craftsmen make their own scoop combs, which allow them to quickly “comb” cranberry meadows. However legislation in many regions Russian Federation imposes restrictions on this collection method. The fact is that “ches” can seriously injure plants, tearing off leaves and shoots. Therefore, when going for cranberries, you need to familiarize yourself with local collection rules.
Conclusion
In mid-September, the Tver region annually hosts a holiday - the cranberry festival, timed to coincide with the beginning of the harvesting season for this berry. In Arkhangelsk, a similar event is held a little later - in early October. At the same time, cranberries are celebrated in the Western Hemisphere - in Canada, where on berry plantations they are allowed to take photographs in the “cranberry sea”, prepared for harvest.
Wild cranberries are a berry of exceptional value, but not everyone can harvest them in the swamp.. And then a good way out is to independently cultivate this plant on your own site. A considerable number of large-fruited cultivars have been created through selection. With some effort and creating the necessary conditions for the plants, in just three to four years you can get your own cranberry “Palestine”.
In most of its range, lingonberries ripen from mid-August to mid-November. Its targeted collection in natural conditions begins in early September and lasts until the first serious frost. After the onset of severe frosts, the berries on the bushes become soft, are crushed in baskets or buckets and immediately release juice. Therefore, in the second half of November and before the snow falls, they prefer to collect lingonberries mainly for the further preparation of juices, fruit drinks, jams, preserves or berries ground with sugar.
Ripe lingonberries in mid-September - all the berries on the bushes have the same color, all are quite soft, but not yet choking.
Lingonberry leaf as a medicinal raw material is harvested in the spring, immediately after the snow melts and before flowers appear on the bushes. In the southern parts of the range (Ukraine, the Caucasus, southern Belarus) this period occurs at the end of April - May, in the northern parts - at the end of May - June.
Leaves must be collected before flowers appear on the bushes.
To some extent, the ripening time of lingonberries varies depending on the region. In more northern areas (Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, Kamchatka, the Scandinavian countries, the Komi Republic, Alaska and the entire territory of Russia and Canada beyond the Arctic Circle), the peak harvest is in September, starting from the very beginning. To the south (Siberia, Leningrad region, Belarus) the bulk of the berries ripen from mid-September to mid-October.
However, there is significant heterogeneity depending on the forest itself and the altitude of the site above sea level. In the mountains of the Kola Peninsula or in the dark coniferous Karelian forests, the harvesting time for lingonberries shifts a week or two later than in open and well-lit areas.
Also, collection times may vary from year to year depending on weather conditions. In hot summers, the berries ripen earlier than in cold, rainy weather.
In general, there are no significant differences in terms of harvesting lingonberries in different regions. Commercial pickers purposefully begin to collect lingonberries when in a particular area almost all the berries become deep red. As a rule, this happens in the first or second ten days of September.
A little biology: how and when lingonberries ripen
The setting of berries in place of pollinated lingonberry flowers occurs in June and early July. It takes about a month for each fruit to grow to normal size for lingonberries. Only after this the berries begin to change color from white or light green, first to pink, and then to red.
At this time, the berries are very hard and incredibly sour.
The size of the berries on a particular bush depends on the fertility of the soil, air temperature during the ripening period and lighting. Lingonberries grown on plantations are almost always larger than forest ones, precisely due to the abundance of fertilizers and the lack of shade.
Early-set berries ripen already in the second half of July, but only in well-lit areas and in very small quantities. Around this time, in parallel with the blueberry picking, pickers often feast on lingonberries, but they do not yet purposefully collect them.
Each bush may contain berries to varying degrees maturity. When some are already completely red, others may just begin to turn pink, but in general, on one bush and in one clearing, lingonberries will ripen more evenly than in different geographical areas.
Unripe lingonberries are very sour and very bitter. As it ripens, both its acidity and bitterness decrease, and when the berry becomes completely red, it is already pleasant to eat. The bitterness completely disappears in fruits frozen in the cold. But they are the least transportable and practically cannot be stored, being picked from the bush.
Slightly frozen, lingonberries become much sweeter due to the reduction in the amount of acids in the berries.
Lingonberry leaf, harvested as a medicinal raw material, preserves greatest number beneficial properties just before flowering begins. When flowers form, the bush spends a large amount of biologically active substances on them, and then on ripening the berries, and therefore the value of the leaves during this period is significantly reduced.
Since lingonberry blooms almost throughout its entire range in June, it is in May - before flowering - that the leaves of the plant are collected.
Freshly picked lingonberry leaves.
Obviously, the further north the region is and the shorter the snowless period in it, the shorter the harvesting period for both leaves and berries of lingonberries.
Ripening dates in different countries and regions of the Russian Federation
The main places where lingonberries are harvested in Eurasia are the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic states, the Russian Arctic, Karelia and the Komi Republic, Tomsk region, Sakhalin and Kamchatka, Primorye, Leningrad region and northern Belarus. Here, the main harvest of lingonberries is carried out from the second half of September to the first or second half of November. As a rule, the harvesting period ends with the falling of the first snow, or with a decrease in the average daily air temperature below 0°C.
Not only do the berries themselves become soft when frozen, but they are also difficult to dig out even from under a thin layer of snow.
In different parts of the plant’s range, the peak of collection always occurs in early autumn with only slight shifts in timing:
| Regions | Terms of industrial harvesting of lingonberries | Timing for harvesting lingonberry leaves |
| South and center of Belarus (including Minsk and Minsk region), Ukraine, Caucasus, south of Primorye | Second ten days of August - third ten days of October | Third ten days of April third ten days of May |
| Moscow, Moscow region, the entire Moscow region, Leningrad, Smolensk, Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda, Vladimir regions (including Smolensk Lake District), Vitebsk, Primorye, Udmurtia, the Mari El Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Yaroslavl, Ryazan | Third ten days of August - second ten days of October | Second ten days of May - second ten days of June |
| Syktyvkar and the Komi Republic, Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Norway (south of the Arctic Circle), Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk region, Perm, Kamchatka | First ten days of September - second ten days of October | Third ten days of May - third ten days of June |
| All Arctic regions, including Murmansk and Murmansk region, Arkhangelsk and Arkhangelsk region, northern Siberia, northern Scandinavia, | First ten days of September - first ten days of October | First - third ten days of June |
As a rule, lingonberries are harvested as planned after blueberries are harvested, along with cranberries and cloudberries. Only they don’t go out specifically to pick them, but when picking other berries, “quiet hunters” in a particular area note when the lingonberries ripen and begin to pick them too.
In most regions where it grows (except for the southernmost ones - the Caucasus and Ukraine), the collection ends with the first snow, when the berries are no longer visible. A significant part of them remains under the snow and serves as food for wild birds and animals.
When is it allowed to collect lingonberries in the forest?
Officially, lingonberries can be harvested at any time, as long as they are collected by hand without special tools. Starting from the end of July, when the first ripe berries appear, and until permanent snow cover is established, lingonberries can be collected in all countries and regions.
The largest quantity of lingonberries is collected in Karelia, Scandinavian countries and the Far East.
In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, it is prohibited to use special fruit collectors in the form of buckets, rakes, scythes, scoops and others when collecting. Due to the fact that such devices are in most cases made by the pickers themselves at home, they do not meet the safety requirements for bushes, and at the site of intensive collection, most of the bushes suffer, which is why the yield of the site decreases in subsequent years.
According to special studies, in places with very intensive collection of lingonberries using “combines,” the yield after harvest is restored within 3-8 years, depending on the type of soil. At the same time, manual harvesting in Russia and Belarus, as well as harvesting with high-quality combines in Scandinavian countries (where compliance of such devices with special standards is very strictly controlled) has virtually no effect on the yield of wild lingonberries.
It is prohibited to collect lingonberries - both berries and leaves - in any way in the territories of national parks and reserves. In some forestry farms you can obtain permission to collect lingonberries, and in many cases this pays off: in such areas there are usually no people at all, and the berries are much larger.
Violation of this law is punishable by a fine of up to 20,000 rubles in Russia and up to 4,200 UAH in Ukraine.
Will harvested white or green lingonberries ripen at home and how long can they be stored without processing?
Lingonberries ripen at home after picking for 4-5 days. At the same time, some metabolic processes occur in its berries, due to which the amount of acids decreases and the amount of sugars increases. Consequently, a very sour and bitter berry from the forest after a few days becomes quite edible and suitable for preparing various dishes.
The ripening of lingonberries is quite limited. So, picked white or green berries will not ripen to red, and therefore they should not be collected in this form. Pink berries ripen, or red ones with pinkish spots still remaining. This means that you should count on ripening only when there are single unripe fruits in the bulk of the ripe berries. In this case, after a few days, all lingonberries will have a normal presentation and will be suitable for consumption.
Collected “in season”, all lingonberries have a beautiful appearance and can be stored for a long time.
In many places beyond the Arctic Circle, the ripening of lingonberries occurs at a time when snow cover is already established. There is no point in collecting it unripe: it will not ripen green at home, culinary or commodity value will not present it, and therefore collecting it will only waste time.
Moreover, due to the high content of natural acids, carefully picked lingonberries practically do not spoil for several months after picking. Its harvest, collected in September-October, is usually safely stored in suitable conditions(low humidity, dark room, air temperature up to +13°C) until New Year and Christmas without freezing or canning. Therefore, you can count on the fact that for several months after picking the berries will be exactly the same as they were collected in the forest.
Berries picked after frost quickly deteriorate. Already on the bushes they become soft and watery, and they begin to release juice while still in the bucket when collected. They need to be recycled immediately upon arrival home.
Wet berries picked after rain or early in the morning due to dew must be dried after picking. Lingonberries themselves are resistant to moisture, do not absorb water and do not turn sour, but if stored wet, mold may appear on them.
How to pick this berry correctly, quickly and safely
As a result, the optimal season for harvesting lingonberries is the end of August - mid-October. At this time, pickers go to those places where, when collecting other berries or in previous years, they noted a large number of lingonberry bushes and, when they find ripe berries, they begin to collect it purposefully, or in parallel with the collection of cranberries and other berries.
Interestingly, during the ripening period of lingonberries, there are fewer mosquitoes.
It is advisable to start harvesting lingonberries at 9-10 am, when the dew has already disappeared and the collected berries will be dry.
For harvesting on an industrial scale, special manual harvesters are usually used. They allow you to pick berries very quickly, and if you harvest correctly and use high-quality fruit pickers, injury to the bushes will be minimal.
When harvesting, a person runs the comb of the combine from the bottom of the bush up, while holding the bush on the other side so that it does not bend. The stems and leaves of the bush pass through the ridge, and the berries are picked and entered into the receiving chamber. When a lot of berries accumulate in the bucket, the picker pours them into a bucket.
The video shows how the berries are picked in this case:
At the same time, many harvesters fundamentally do not use combines, because they believe that such devices in any case reduce the yield in subsequent years. In this case, assembly is much slower, requires more effort (you need to squat) and allows you to collect a smaller amount of lingonberries.
Throughout the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine, a picker caught by an inspector in the forest with a combine harvester and berries may be fined. Therefore, here, with combine harvesters, berries are collected where there is the least likelihood of encountering inspectors and foresters.
Most pickers who go “to lingonberries” to earn money, in most cases decide to go specifically to the Scandinavian countries, where they pay more for the berries than in Russia or Ukraine, but the harvest is harvested with standard combines. Taking into account the speed and productivity, such work allows you to earn reasonable money. However, there are also written and unwritten collection rules that must be followed for safe and efficient operation.
After picking at the end of the day, the collected berries are usually scattered for drying, sorted from the leaves, packaged in boxes, and taken to the procurement office the next day.
Well-cleaned lingonberries have no leaves, needles or other debris at all.
On special plantations, lingonberries are harvested using semi-self-propelled harvesters and turn out to be even more productive than harvesting even in the most productive areas in the forest.
The video below shows such a combine:
Lingonberry leaves are collected by hand, plucking them from the bushes. To do this, you cannot pull out an entire bush and pluck it by weight - with such harvesting, the yield of a particular area will be restored for years due to a decrease in the number of fruit-bearing bushes.
After collection, lingonberry leaves are laid out in a ventilated place in the shade and dried for 3-4 days, and then packed in rag bags or cardboard boxes and stored until used as medicinal raw materials.
Cranberry is a wild berry, which in the old days almost entire villages went to collect. And even today in the fall, in remote swampy places, you can often meet enthusiasts carrying entire backpacks of sour “zharavika”. Such zeal is justified. Cranberries have a complex of substances beneficial to the body and are used not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine. Therefore, the cost of a jar of berries on the market reaches 1,000 rubles.
When are cranberries harvested? When do cranberries ripen?
Collection begins in September (not earlier than September 7-10). At this time you can simply fill it cold water, and it will be stored until next year.
The second time for cranberry harvesting is with the onset of the first frosts in November. Berries collected in November can be frozen.
You can pick cranberries in early spring (if, of course, there are still some left).
When preparing cranberries, it is worth considering that unripe berries are poorly stored, losing beneficial properties. Besides, ascorbic acid it is destroyed during heat treatment, so it is better to grind the berries with sugar (in a ratio of 1 to 1.5-2).
Rules for picking berries
When picking berries, it is prohibited to use various mechanical devices (scoops, combs, etc.) that damage the berry bushes and reduce the berry yield in subsequent years.
Harvested berries do not ripen after picking, so pick only ripe ones.
Pick berries that you want to eat right away when the moon is waxing, then they will be more fragrant.
Pick berries for canning during the waning moon, then they will last longer.
Berries need to be picked in cool hours (morning and evening) every other day, and in dry, hot weather, every day, avoiding over-ripening.
The collected berries should be immediately removed to a cool place protected from the sun, since berries heated in the sun very quickly lose their appearance, taste and beneficial properties.
When carrying berries, they should also be protected from sunlight.
How and where do cranberries grow?
The Delaware Indians had a legend according to which cranberries grow in the battlefields of ancient giants - where their blood was shed. This makes some sense. Cranberries are a berry of peat, tundra and sphagnum bogs, and their age ranges from 12 thousand to 400 million years.
In Russia, cranberries grow in damp coniferous forests, swampy lowlands, and old peat bogs. It is widespread in the European part of the country, in Karelia, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Siberia. The northern border of its range lies in the Arctic Circle (forest-tundra zones). From the south, the cranberry growing area is limited by the 62nd parallel and coincides with the boundaries of the swamps.
For normal development, cranberries require a lot of light and clean water. It grows poorly in environmentally unfavorable places, so cranberry “Palestines” cannot be found near large cities. This berry is not demanding on the mineral composition of the soil. The roots of the shrub form a symbiosis with soil fungi, which help the plant “get food.” Cranberries choose soils that are more acidic, easily tolerating a pH of up to 2.5.
Cranberry bushes are capable of forming mats, spreading over moss and intertwining shoots. There can be quite a long distance from one cranberry “palestine” to another. Sometimes you have to walk several kilometers through springy moss and sticky mud.
