Cape Blanco's vine-ripened cranberries

Yes, it's true—cranberries grow in the West. And the way Ron and Mary Puhl grow them, they're the best you can buy, anywhere. Their secret is letting those berries ripen fully on the vine until they're unusually big and sweet, with a deep burgundy shine. Several years ago, the Puhls came up with late-harvest cranberries as way to stand out in a crowded market, and the mild coastal Oregon climate made it possible.

So they pick on into December (compared with October in the East and Midwest), flooding their fields and turning them into floating red carpets of berries waiting to be skimmed off the surface. "When we first started harvesting late, people thought we were crazy," Mary says. "But the berries do taste different. It's like a ripe peach versus and partly green peach. There's not any comparison."

$2/lb.; capeblancocranberries.com; ships frozen in U.S.