Cranberries, Dried. 

Eden Foods Dried Cranberries Apple Sweetened are a delicious, healthy snack that contain no added refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. They contain NO sulfites, chemical preservatives, or additives of any kind. Contrary to popular belief cranberries do not grow in water. They grow in beds called 'bogs' made of impermeable layers of sand, peat, gravel, clay and organic decaying matter from the cranberry vines. The vines can only grow and survive when special conditions exist such as an acid peat soil, an adequate supply of fresh water for irrigation and periodic flooding, a supply of sand and a long growing season that extends from April to November. There are two main methods of harvesting cranberries - dry and wet harvesting. Eden Foods Dried Cranberries Apple Sweetened are a native American variety Vaccinium macrocarpon organically grown on family owned cranberry bogs in Québec, Canada. 

Eden Foods are wet harvested, considered by some to be the best way to harvest cranberries. First the grower floods the bog with about 12 to 18 inches of water. Next, a simple machine called a 'water reel' stirs up the water and loosens the cranberries from their vines. The water reel is nicknamed the 'egg beater' and resembles a paddle boat. Cranberries have small air bubbles in the center, and once loosened from the vines they float to the surface of the flooded bog. Harvesters wade out into the bog when all the cranberries are on the surface. Using a specially designed gathering device they hand corral the berries into a large circle forming a thick red carpet of berries which are then loaded into trucks and taken to the processing station. Here the cranberries are cleaned, sorted, and quick frozen. When ready for drying, the cranberries are thawed and infused by immersing them in organic apple juice concentrate that is circulated over them until they reach just the right sweetness or 'Brix'. The infused cranberries are then rinsed, low heat dried, and coated very lightly with a mist of organic sunflower oil to prevent clumping. The low heat drying is warm air circulated until they are dry enough to become shelf stable, requiring no refrigeration.