Seeking a Global Market for Cranberries
為蔓越莓尋找全球市場
By Kim Severson

WARRENS, Wisconsin – Cranberries are one of only three fruits native to North America that are commercially cultivated. The other two: Concord grapes and blueberries.
北美洲的原生種水果，已進行商業種植開發的只有三種，除了蔓越莓外，還有康科特葡萄和藍莓。

This state, which grows more cranberries than any other, is awash in the fruit. Two years of record harvests have sent prices plummeting, and growers are trying to figure out new ways to market their fruit.
威斯康辛州是美國蔓越莓種植最多的州，產量非常豐富，兩年來的空前收成量使價格大跌，農民正嘗試找出行銷的新方法。

As millions of kilos more than usual sit in storage nationwide, a fog of worry has settled in over the sandy cranberry marshes here that provide a living for nearly 4,000 people. “It’s one of the deepest pits we’ve been in, I’ll tell you,” said Michael Gnewikow of the Wetherby Cranberry Company in central Wisconsin.
目前躺在全國各地倉庫裡的蔓越莓，數量比以往多出數百萬公斤，此間提供近4000人生計的砂質蔓越莓沼澤田，也為憂慮的氣氛所籠罩。位於威斯康辛州中部的威瑟比蔓越莓公司的紐考威說：「我可以告訴你，這是我們經歷過的最糟困境之一。」

Cranberry growers are now engaged in serious trade diplomacy, trying to convince countries like India, South Korea and China that the cranberry is worth adding to their culinary canons.
蔓越莓農正致力於重要的貿易外交，努力說服印度、南韓和中國大陸等國家，蔓越莓值得他們納入烹飪食材清單。

Wisconsin growers hosted Chinese buyers in August, letting them taste tart raw berries and cranberry wine. In October, Chinese journalists spent two days in Massachusetts cranberry fields, where they donned waders and stood thigh-deep in bogs filled with floating cranberries.
威斯康辛種植者去年8月招待一批中國大陸買家，讓他們試吃酸澀的蔓越莓生果實和蔓越莓酒。去年10月，中國大陸記者在麻州蔓越莓田待了2天，他們穿上青蛙裝，站在深及大腿、漂浮著滿滿果實的蔓越莓沼澤田中。

The Chinese drawn by the health benefits, bought about 1.3 million kilos of cranberries in 2013. In 2014 they bought almost twice as much.
被蔓越莓的保健效果吸引而來的大陸人，2013年約買了130萬公斤的蔓越莓，2014的採購量幾乎是前一年的2倍。

Cranberries are a part of holiday meals in the United States. But only a fifth of the country’s cranberry supply is eaten between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So the cranberry industry is trying to recast its product in nontraditional ways, expanding the market beyond the America itself, partly by promoting the berry’s health properties.
在美國，蔓越莓是節慶餐點的一部分，然而美國的蔓越莓供貨量中，僅五分之一在感恩節至耶誕節期間被吃掉。因此蔓越莓產業試著在傳統方式之外重塑這項商品，將市場擴展到美國以外，部分方式是推銷這種水果的保健功效。

Cranberries help with urinary tract infections and are high in antioxidants that can protect cells. Some research has shown the cranberry can fight harmful bacteria.
蔓越莓有助預防尿道感染，富含抗氧化物，可以保護細胞。有些研究顯示，蔓越莓可對抗有害細菌。

Only 3 percent of the cranberries grown here and in Massachusetts, New Jersey and the Pacific Northwest are sold fresh. Most are dried, pressed into juice, canned as sauce or made into pharmaceutical powders. The sweetened dried cranberry, the Craisin, is a popular snack.
威斯康辛州、麻州、新澤西州和太平洋岸西北各州所產蔓越莓，僅3%以新鮮果實販售。大多數蔓越莓會製成莓乾、壓成果汁、做成醬料裝罐或製成藥用粉末。乾燥並加糖調味的蔓越莓，也就是蔓越莓乾，是很受歡迎的零嘴。

Still, there are too many. Wisconsin broke a record last fall when it harvested 272 million kilos, more than 60 percent of the national supply. For growers who sell cranberries to processors, a kilo that brought in $2 in 2008 was worth about 25 cents in 2014.
可是，蔓越莓的量還是太多了。去年秋季，威斯康辛州破紀錄地收成了2億7200萬公斤的蔓越莓，占全國供貨量的60%以上。2008年，農民賣給加工商的價格每公斤有2美元，但2014年只有25美分。

But Nodji Van Wychen, the 66-year-old matriarch of the Wetherby company, is optimistic.
威瑟比公司的女老闆、66歲的諾吉．范．維辰很樂觀。

“We rode the roller coaster before,” she said. “All of this is just an opportunity to get more creative.”
她說：「我們以前搭過價格起伏的雲霄飛車，這一切只是讓我們更有創意的一個契機。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/dining/cranberry-growers-search-for-ways-to-share-their-bounty.html

2015-01-20聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 莊蕙嘉譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版下