It Must Be a Muscadine

There is a wonderful little known fruit that hails from the southeastern United States. Its appearance closely resembles that of an everyday grape, but its size resembles that of a ping-pong ball. One might think that this fruit is the product of a mad scientist’s crossbreeding experiment, but in all truth, the Muscadine is it’s own genus.

The Muscadine (vitis rotundifolia) has been cultivated since the 16th Century, and used in wines, jams, and juices. These wonderful fruits’ colors range from a deep-set bronze to a dark, almost black shade. The bronze Muscadine are hilariously called “Scuppernongs”, and do not have as sweet as a palate as the dark purple ones.

The taste of the Muscadine can quite possibly be summed up as everything you ever wanted in a grape, but more. The Muscadine has a rich and full-bodied palate, enclosed in a crisp, fibrous skin that is tart to the taste. The Muscadine’s “pulp” tastes like an intense winemaking grape with a somewhat “wild” and “gamey” flavour. The scent is quite overpowering if one does not care for the scent of grapes. But if grapes are you’re kind of fruit, then a Muscadine may just be the fruit that you have been longing to try.

My first experience with the Muscadine brought me back to my childhood when I would hunt for wild grapes in the nearby forest in northern Illinois. Granted, coming upon ripe, tasty grapes was always heavily dependant upon whether the deer had gotten to them first, but once in a while I had struck gold. But unlike the wild grapes of my childhood, Muscadines are larger, tastier, and much more fun to eat. With only two-to- four seeds in every Muscadine, eating them is neither messy nor time-consuming; in fact, spitting them out is half the fun! The next time you find Muscadines in your grocer’s produce section, don’t be afraid to give them a chance. After all, they may just be exactly what you were looking for.