Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

Finally, tonight, an oath to a fixture of the Thanksgiving dinner table, Harry Smith, on our love of the cranberry.

[00:00:07]

Every fall, usually just after the first frost, cranberry farmers know its time, time to harvest.

[00:00:14]

It's one of the most spectacular harvests. I like to say when I'm in here, the cranberies are giving me like a million little hugs.

[00:00:23]

Boggs in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest glisten with the color of a fruit that lands tarts on the tongue.

[00:00:31]

I'm like a cranberry. I'm tart at heart.

[00:00:33]

Allison Kars family- You want one, Mom? -has been cultivating cranberries near Cape Cod since the 1800s.

[00:00:40]

A lot of the work that we do comes from not only what we do this year, but the learning and the teachings and the understandings from the generations of people that came before us.

[00:00:51]

Harvest is part of Kars' heritage. They need to go.

[00:00:54]

This way. They need to go this way.

[00:00:56]

That heritage drew her back to the farm.

[00:00:59]

I went to New York City and I loved it. And they said, if you love the farm, you'll come back to it. And that's what I did.

[00:01:07]

Cranberries are American originals, native to the continent, like Concord grapes and Blueberries. But those others don't engender the kindcontroversy that accompanies Thanksgiving dinner. So have there ever been family disputes with I like the can? No, I want it this way. No, I want it that way.

[00:01:27]

I would say people have their the ones that they love. So not so much a dispute, but more of the passionate. They are passionate about their cranberry sauce that they love.

[00:01:38]

A survey says the jellied version from a can is the overwhelming favorite. But most of these little rubies end up as juice, and there is little dispute over the cranberry's contribution to a Cosmo or to whatever she's having. Harry Smith, NBC News, Rochester, Massachusetts.

[00:02:02]

Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the BBC News app, or follow us on social media.