107 As far as necessary Cranberries from Canada Not a lot can grow in the acidic peat soil found in the south of the Canadian province of Québec With one brilliant exception cranberries These low bushes with their red berries find everything they need here Their name harks back to the shape of their flowers which reminded the European missionaries who came to this region in the 17th century of the head of a crane Today the cranberry harvest has become a major draw for tourists And no wonder because the berries don t simply fall into the farmer s basket To remove the berries from the low bushes first the fields are flooded with a good 20 centimetres of water Then special threshing machines separate the cranberries from the branches Four small air chambers in each ripe juicy berry ensure that they rise to the surface un damaged This also serves as a reliable form of quality control a berry that sinks is no good Now harvest workers can skim the berries from the surface of the bright red lakes In a closed system the water is returned to reservoirs and stored until the next flooding The cranberry was already known to the indigenous people of North America But by it self its extremely sour taste takes some getting used to When properly blended how ever the berry gives our fruit teas a delicate acidity and above all a bright red colour as far as necessary This geographic configuration is determined by the laws of nature and cannot be reproduced in a green house in Lower Saxony However we make certain that our mate tea doesn t come to us by aeroplane but by ship Sometimes we do have to source herbs and spices from farther afield however even though they could grow here in Germany This is simply because in Ger many there is not enough farmland under organic cultivation to cover local demand To improve this sit uation in the future we support a variety of projects such as organic farmland initiatives Purchasing

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