Name That Company

I enjoy a 75% market share in the berries I grow and sell. Most of my products can prevent scurvy. Sales of my main product used to center on specific dates, but I’ve worked to boost sales all year round. Instead of competing with others, I joined forces with them in 1930 and am now a cooperative of about 750 growers. My main product, which often grows in acidic peat soil in bogs and marshes, was used as medicine by Native Americans centuries ago. Quality testers check to see if my product bounces, and it’s often harvested through flooding. Who am I?

*

Know the answer? Send it to us with “Fool Trivia” written at the top and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a nifty prize!

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

I’m the world’s largest food company, based in a country known for its timekeepers. My founder developed a substitute for mother’s milk in the 19th century. Thanks to an investment in a Brazilian factory, I ended up developing instant coffee, which proved to be a big hit in World War II. Only a third of my sales are generated in the Americas, and my brands today include Coffee-Mate, Carnation, Taster’s Choice, Perrier, Poland Spring, Stouffer’s, Ortega, Alpo, Friskies, Libby’s and Contadina. I run more than 450 factories and take in more than $50 billion a year in revenue. Who am I?

*

Answer: Nestle

Our Los Angeles Times winner is ...Michael Stempel of West Hollywood, who wins a copy of “The Motley Fool Investment Guide” by David and Tom Gardner.

Write! Send questions for Ask the Fool, Dumbest (or Smartest) Investments (up to 100 words) and your trivia entries to LATFool@fool.com or by regular mail, with the first line of the address as “Fool Trivia,” “Fool Investment” or “Ask the Fool,” c/o Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. E-mail trivia entries must be received by Thursday night, but for snail-mail entries, we’ll wait until Friday morning’s delivery. In any case, you must include full name and mailing address. One winner will be chosen at random for each contest.