Fun Fall Activities 4
Fall is Cranberry Season
Some foods just naturally go with autumn.
We are comforted by the smell of pumpkin spice, there’s nothing like a freshly picked crisp juicy apple, and cranberries go with everything from muffins, to juice, to a sauce for turkey.
How it Got it’s Name:
Cranberries are native to North America. Indigenous peoples called the cranberry plant “atoca.”
Early settlers thought the cranberry blossom resembled the head of a crane and called them “crane berries.”
Cranberry Trivia
Did you know that Canada is one of the top 3 producers of cranberries in the world? (USA and Chile are the other two.)
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- Most of our Canadian cranberries are produced in Quebec, B.C. and New Brunswick.
- Bala, Ontario is the cranberry capital of Ontario.
Fun fact: Despite popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. They are a perennial, creeping ground covering shrub with evergreen leaves. Because the vines are so dense the crops are flooded to make harvesting easier. Ripe cranberrries bounce and float!
The Ontario Cranberry Harvest starts Sept 21, 2024 and the very popular Bala Cranberry Festival takes place from Friday October 18th – Sunday, October 20th.
If you’re looking for something different to do this fall consider making the trek to the Muskokas to take a cranberry plunge, drive the cranberry trail, and sample some cranberry delights.