Many cranberry varieties exist. Most are wild selections, like Early Black, Howes and Ben Lear. However the past four decades, universities and private companies have developed Hybrids. Stevens is a hybrid bred by USDA for productivity and disease resistance. Cranberries are distinguished by harvest season, size, and color. Ben Lear’s dark color is prized for processing into sauces, whereas smaller fruited, meaty flesh varieties such as Early Black and Howes are brighter red and can be stored for long periods for fresh sales and has higher pectins than other varieties. Stevens has large red fruit and is typically used for processing into juice but also makes great sauce. If you want a heritage variety, we sell Howes as it is a heritage wild variety found originally in Massachusett. If you want the latest in disease resistance and yield choose Stevens. At Cranberry Creations we sell both these varieties to meet the needs of our customers. We do not sell the other two due to numerous growing problems with them that require special treatments for disease and insect control. Currently we are repropagating Howes in 2014, so if you want some, we will have some of them in spring 2015.