One of the enduring mysteries of Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce. People love it. People hate it. People swear that if you don't t like it that's only because you haven't tried their recipe (to which I say, listen: I'll keep trying, but at some point you just gotta know yourself and trust your taste buds.)
But perhaps the greatest mystery of the jellied, store-bought variety: Why the heck is the Ocean Spray label upside-down?
In case you haven't noticed: The labels are flipped, as in, the rounded edge that's typically on the bottom of most canned goods is on top of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce cans.
As my colleague Jordan Valinsky found out, the flip is intentional.
Per Jordan:
The cans are "filled and labeled upside down with the rounded edge on top and the sharp can-like edge on the bottom to keep the jelly whole," an Ocean Spray spokesperson told CNN Business. "That creates an air bubble on the rounded side (a.k.a. the top) so customers can "swipe the edge of the can with a knife to break the vacuum and the log will easily slide out."
As noted above, cranberry sauce is one of the holiday staples that costs a lot more than it used to.
That's partly because cranberry crops are smaller, creating a supply squeeze. That includes cranberry sauce, whose price is up about 18% compared to last year because cranberry crops are smaller this year, sparking a supply squeeze.
Experts are a little stumped, though, about why the crop has shrunk.
"We're scratching our heads," said Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, which produces a big slice of the country's cranberries.
For now, his best hypothesis centers on the temperature — some cold-weather growth areas have been heating up.
Side note: Did y'all know that cranberries actually grow on vines in a bog, and come harvest time the farmers flood the bog to make the berries come loose and float up? (Maybe that's common knowledge, but those Ocean Spray commercials from my youth made me think they just grew on the water?)
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