Cotton Candy Grapes?!

[Schfifty Five]

Saw these at Wholefoods once. Sampled one and thought, wow these are amazing! Was about to grab a bag when I saw that they were like $4.19/lb. Promptly retracted my arm and said F that.

 

[Raizinman]

Bought a container at Costco about 2 weeks ago for $9.50. I thought they were very expensive, but wanted to see what they were about. I tried them and the taste of cotton candy really did come to mind. Not quite sure how they do this, but as a very special treat these are great. Will definitely buy them again.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Yeah, my bag says "Sustainably grown, non-GMO". From their website:

Q: Are your grapes Genetically Modified (GMO)?

A: No. We work hard to breed our grapes naturally over time and to develop innovative, sustainable farming techniques that create exceptional and amazing flavor. Our all-natural best practices ensure a unique taste experience without the need for additives, infusions, or GMO. So when you try our grapes, you'll always enjoy a distinctive, delicious flavor. Nothing more. Nothing less. It's in our nature.

Intentionally singling out genetic traits and breeding specifically to control those is genetic modification... So unless they found some random-ass grape deep in the jungles of the Amazon that just happens to taste like cotton candy, bullshit it's "GMO free." People need to stop acting like GMO is a codeword for scary science that involves budding evil geniuses shooting gamma rays at a packet of seeds like they were Dr. Doom on a misbegotten adventure to irradiate the world's corn supply. There's nothing wrong with using genetic modification to make a grape taste like cotton candy (except that cotton candy tastes like shit, while grapes are delicious), but stop lying and saying "no GMOs here!" That's just buying into the nonsense that GMOs are somehow a bad thing.

 

[Ns1]

Intentionally singling out genetic traits and breeding specifically to control those is genetic modification..
---
Goddmanit you mean this OG Kush I've been smoking is GMO? Fuck me.

 

[Homerboy]

Intentionally singling out genetic traits and breeding specifically to control those is genetic modification... So unless they found some random-ass grape deep in the jungles of the Amazon that just happens to taste like cotton candy, bullshit it's "GMO free." People need to stop acting like GMO is a codeword for scary science that involves budding evil geniuses shooting gamma rays at a packet of seeds like they were Dr. Doom on a misbegotten adventure to irradiate the world's corn supply. There's nothing wrong with using genetic modification to make a grape taste like cotton candy (except that cotton candy tastes like shit, while grapes are delicious), but stop lying and saying "no GMOs here!" That's just buying into the nonsense that GMOs are somehow a bad thing.

Ummm not really.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism#Production

Genetic modification involves the mutation, insertion, or deletion of genes. Inserted genes usually come from a different species in a form of horizontal gene-transfer. In nature this can occur when exogenous DNA penetrates the cell membrane for any reason. To do this artificially may require:

A) attaching the genes to a virus
B) physically inserting the extra DNA into the nucleus of the intended host with a very small syringe
C) with the use of electroporation (that is, introducing DNA from one organism into the cell of another by use of an electric pulse)
D) with very small particles fired from a gene gun.[1][2][3]

Other methods exploit natural forms of gene transfer, such as the ability of Agrobacterium to transfer genetic material to plants,[4] or the ability of lentiviruses to transfer genes to animal cells.[5]

 

[Spoooon]

Expensive, not worth it to have as everyday grapes, worth the price as an occasional treat. They do taste like very sweet grapes, but it sort of comes together as cotton candy. The moon drops are good too.

 

[lxskllr]

Related, have any of you guys had a grapple? It's an apple that tastes like a grape. Pretty damn good. They're a little smaller than most apples and pretty sweet, but they're good.

Grapples are regular apples bathed in artificial flavor.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Unfermented grapes? But why??

 

[TwiceOver]

I went out and bought some. Crazy. They do taste like cotton candy.

 

[clamum]

I did go to the closest Kroger by me last night but they didn't have shit there. Horrible frickin fruit selection, and there were even no regular grapes, much less these ones. I can't believe people shop at that place, ugh. I'll have to check out another Kroger, maybe tonight.

 

[pete6032]

Well we've finally done it. Debauched even the humble grape with GMO evil genius sciencey goodness. GMO grapes I see nothing wrong with that.

What's the worst that could happen? You grow a cotton tumor in your brain? First of all it's cotton, so it's benign. Second it's cotton, so it'll soak up all that alcohol and benzos you been using to pickle your brain with.

Excessive sugar intake is a big problem in this country.

 

[MongGrel]

The wife got them once about a year ago, she loves em.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Bought by accident. They are disgusting. Way too sweet.

 

[MongGrel]

Bought by accident. They are disgusting. Way too sweet.

I think I felt the same way myself.

They just sounded familiar and asked her about them, she ate them all.

 

[Excelsior]

It's amazing how many fruits are out there that we just aren't exposed to in America. I always bring my first box of fresh dates into work for distribution...people are blown away with how good & soft they are. Date-flavored, honey-flavored, sugar-flavored, and caramel-flavored varieties, all fresh off the tree. None of this dried, cubed, powdered-sugar-coated garbage found at the bottom of trail mixes!

Plz to have some of your dates.

 

[waggy]

lol i just seen these at hyvee. got my kids a small bundle of them. they seem to enjoy them. I didn't like them. It's like the "Grapple" (apples that taste like grapes) it's neat but not very good.

 

[Strk]

It's amazing how many fruits are out there that we just aren't exposed to in America. I always bring my first box of fresh dates into work for distribution...people are blown away with how good & soft they are. Date-flavored, honey-flavored, sugar-flavored, and caramel-flavored varieties, all fresh off the tree. None of this dried, cubed, powdered-sugar-coated garbage found at the bottom of trail mixes!

Yeah, and even the ones some of us get up north (I live in MA) are even worse. I want to get star fruit, but they are puny and $2 a piece

 

[Jeeebus]

Yeah, and even the ones some of us get up north (I live in MA) are even worse. I want to get star fruit, but they are puny and $2 a piece

Breakfast today. I'm guessing we'll get a couple hundred pounds of starfruit off the trees this year.

 

[Fritzo]

Breakfast today. I'm guessing we'll get a couple hundred pounds of starfruit off the trees this year.

Supposedly the skin on those is edible. I didn't know that and peeled them for years.

 

[Jeeebus]

Supposedly the skin on those is edible. I didn't know that and peeled them for years.

The whole fruit is edible. I cut the edges of the fins off as that's usually where excess oxalic acid concentrates (can be bad if you have kidney problems and is not as sweet as the rest of the fruit).

 

[Strk]

Breakfast today. I'm guessing we'll get a couple hundred pounds of starfruit off the trees this year.

Lucky!

 

[clamum]

I acquired cotton candy grapes last night. They didn't quite live up to my expectations (which were quite high), but they indeed taste like cotton candy. Just not quite as much as I thought they would. Oh well, they're pretty good. 8/10 would eat again

 

[Raizinman]

Though they're trademarked as Cotton Candy Grapes by Grapery (the exclusive grower of the grapes in the U.S.), that surprising flavor came about by accident. "We weren’t trying to make a grape that tastes like cotton candy, we were trying to make a good grape," Jim Beagle, Grapery's CEO stated. "We just picked really flavorful parents."

Rather than modifying genes to make better grapes, Grapery partnered with a breeding program that experiments with new grape varieties by traveling the world to "find the most flavorful grapes we can, "grapes that taste great but have too-thick skin or too-big seeds to make it salable in markets. So we use those grapes as parents and cross them with grapes that have other good characteristics."

Cotton Candy grapes are super sweet -- they kick a little in the back of the throat -- but have basically the same nutritional content as almost any grapes in the grocery store.
If the average brix (the unit for measuring a grape's sweetness) is 17 or 18 -- your average sour green grape is 14 to 16 brix -- Cotton Candy grapes come in at 19 to 21. "It’s probably sweeter than the average grape, but within the range of sweetness."

He said it can take 10 to 12 years to make a grape that meets Grapery's criteria. The grapes have to grow dependably every season, or every other year; grapes have to have the right skin structure and shelf life; and they must have a long enough growing season so as not to be too expensive. "It takes millions of crosses [to find a good grape] and you fail far more often than you succeed," "It's a slow process."

But worth it. These are premium grapes at premium prices: They can be found at Le District in Manhattan for, no kidding, $8.99 per pound. But that hasn't stopped people from gobbling them up. "We’re selling it as fast as we can pick it," He expects to sell the last boxes of this season's crop this week, but will ramp up production in the coming years.

Grapery is also responsible for grape varieties named Witch Fingers, Flavor Pops and Moon Drops, and will keep the experimental varieties coming. Currently working on a grape that a lot of people swear tastes like mangoes and another that tastes like strawberry lemonade.

Before you go wishing for a chocolate grape 0r something savory, there's a limit to the types of grapes his farm can produce: We can get pretty rich and delicious, but unless we have some absolute freak of nature, it needs to be the kind of flavors that you’d find in the fruit world. We’re not going to have any steak flavored grapes.