Cranberries…Can You Guess The Henderson Connection!?!

When we say “cranberries”, what comes to mind?  Beautiful, vibrant red berries which bespeak crisp, fall days in the Northeast?  Cranberry beds flooded with an abundance of water to aide in harvesting? Juicy, moist roasted turkey with a side of yummy cranberry sauce or cranberry relish?  Well, all of those things readily spring to mind, but did you make the Henderson, Nevada connection?

Yep, that’s right, Ocean Spray Cranberry is a major employer and producer right here in Henderson!  ​

The Ocean Spray manufacturing and distribution plant on American Pacific Drive runs two production lines, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The plant employs 140 employees and celebrated it’s 22nd year in Henderson in May.

The plant produces 20 million cases of cranberry juice a year!

This time of year cranberries become great enhancements to holiday meals and the stars of holiday desserts.  Cranberry relish and sauce are fabulous with savory meats.  Cranberry bread, scones and cookies are great fall treats.  But where do cranberries come from?

Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines.  The bushes grow in North Eastern United States.  The name cranberry derives from “craneberry”, first named by early European settlers in America who believed that the cranberry flower resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane.

In North America, Native Americans were the first to use cranberries as food and also as wound medicine, and dye.  Today, many doctors recommend cranberry juice for a variety of reasons.

Cranberries are harvested in the fall when the fruit takes on its distinctive deep red color. Berries that receive sun turn a deep red when fully ripe, those that get shaded from light turn a pale pink or white color.  White cranberry juice is made from the pale berries.

During harvest, and only during harvest, the beds in which the plants are cultivated are flooded with six to eight inches of water to cover the vines. A harvester is then driven through the beds to remove the fruit from the vines. Because the cranberries float in water, they can be pushed into a corner of the bed and scooped or pumped from the bed.

We cordially invite you to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving with us at the Emerald Island Grille.  Dinner will be served from 11a.m. until 8 p.m.   Succulent, moist turkey will be offered with mounds of fluffy mashed potatoes, candied yams and savory cornbread stuffing (all covered with our delicious house-made giblet gravy) as well as green bean almandine.  No turkey dinner would be complete without cranberries so we will be serving a generous portion of our tangy, sweet cranberry relish.  And, last, but not least, dinner will conclude with a piece of rich, spicy pumpkin pie topped with freshly whipped sweet cream.  Enjoy dinner with all the fixings and none of the fuss for $10.99 (plus tax)!!!

We look forward to having Thanksgiving Dinner with you at the Emerald Island Casino – The Jewel of Henderson.