The little red berry that helps drive the southeastern Massachusetts economy is trying to bounce all the way to China with the help of the Wareham-based Cranberry Marketing Committee.

The committee received a $20,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to put together a media tour in China. Now with the tour, Marketing Committee Director Scott Soares spoke about the expedition by phone -- at 1 a.m. Friday, China time.

Soares said the goal of the trip is to educate the Chinese media on the cranberry so that they can write about it and, he hopes, increase demand for the tart crop in China.

"It gives them the ability to write stories to educate the public in China," said Soares. "Although there's interest in cranberries here in China...many people don't really know a lot about the fruit, how it's harvested [and] the health benefits."

To that end, they participated in Food and Hospitality Show China, a large trade show where a variety of nations hawk food and beverages that aren't Chinese.

"It's a pretty massive undertaking, there are pavilions for nearly every country," Soares noted.

Michael Rosenblum, Executive Chef in Residence to U.S Ambassador to China Gary Locke, showed off a number of cranberry-centric recipes at the event.

"He crafted five brand new recipes for us," said Soares. "He was actually born in Texas, but he's fluent in Mandarin, and gave a pretty impressive presentation."

The dishes included a cranberry cocoa muffin, cranberry rubbed chicken panini with cran-rosemary aioli and a cranberry ganache tart.

"He's serving all these to the ambassador as we speak," Soares said.

Soares is hopeful that the initiative will generate some buzz about the berry and help open up a new market for cranberry growers.

"I think it's important that readers know the kind of work we're doing here to represent the entire cranberry industry," he said.

The tour was put together in collaboration with the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association.

To learn more about the health benefits of cranberries, or to peruse some recipes, visit the Cranberry Marketing Committee website at www.uscranberries.com.