Slice of Wisconsin: Tiny Berry is Big Business

Cranberry juice, cranberry wine, cranberry brats, cranberry cream puffs.

And excuse me, but my cranberry bread is ready!

It's cranberry season in Wisconsin, and we're the cranberry capital of not just the US,

but our farmers also produce more than half of the world's cranberry supply.

So can you guess which state Wisconsin beat out to earn the number one spot?

New Jersey, Washington State, Massachusetts, the answer coming up.

Fall is harvest time, and you can see the machines rolling through the marshlands,

which are flooded to help the cranberries float to the top.

But it hasn't always been this easy.

Back in the mid-1800s, the berries had to be picked by hand.

It took another 100 years for the right equipment to be built to help with this harvest.

Okay, so Wisconsin owns the cranberry capital title,

but which state lost it to us?

Massachusetts, which has been number two ever since.

By the way, the cranberry is the official state fruit,

making it a true slice of Wisconsin.

I'm Terry Barr for the Civic Media Radio Network.