Originally published at: Cotton candy grapes: A refreshing treat or an abomination against mankind? | Boing Boing
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Those are okay, but we’ve really gotten hooked on The Grapery’s Moon Drops grapes (which we’ve dubbed Moon Fingers). Gah, they’re delicious! I have some in my fridge RIGHT NOW.
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Those are so good!! I haven’t picked them up in a while.
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the biggest abomination about them is the price. i’m fine with my cheaper grapes just tasting like grapes.
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No they’re actually pretty fucking gross.
They mostly taste of straight sugar, which is all cotton candy is. Otherwise they’re kinda thin and watery tasting.
It also seems like breeding primarily to increase sugar content is a really outdated approach to “improving” flavor. Of the same sort that lead to grapples, and green ketchup.
There’s loads of varieties of grape out there, they might do better take some classy heirlooms and develop them out for prime time.
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There’s no genetic modification here
Of course there is. That’s what selective breeding is. I understand what’s meant here, but I haven’t been a pedant yet today and this is my chance.
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Moon Drops ARE so freakin’ yummy…
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Maybe it’s like strawberry grape or fox grape? There’s a white strawberry grape, and it’s very sweet.
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I’m with @DiveGirl – the Moon Drops are loads better, and it’s because they have enough acidity!
The cotton candy grapes, along with the red candy grapes (which taste like strawberry candies) are just too much unbalanced sweet.
The surprise factor of the cotton candy ones is that it seems to have a hint of burnt sugar flavor, like cotton candy. I don’t know if that’s a “this season” thing with the wildfires in the west, but it’s the only break from pure sweet.
Some will cry “but if it gets my kid to eat more fruit, it’s a good thing.” Not really. Grapes aren’t that big on nutrition (decent source of Vitamins C and K, moderate on copper and manganese). Go for blueberries (less sugar, more fiber), my grandkids can tear through a pint if you let them.
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Not a fan of the Cotton Candy grapes. I just don’t think they taste very good. The Moon Drop grapes are good. But I’m a real fan of Muscat grapes. They have a pretty short availability window in the spring, though, so grab them if you see them.
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I enjoyed the CC grapes in the “Huh, they do taste like cotton candy.” way. I don’t need to eat them again.
The “grapple” was just a shitty commodity apple injected with artificial grape flavoring. Good riddance.
Basically every food we eat is the product of genetic modification, whether that occurred in a lab or a field.
Not all GMOs are created equal - some are resistant to herbicides and thus facilitate indiscriminate spraying and environmental damage. Others have been manipulated to be drought tolerant, or use less water, so that they can be grown on more marginal soils (which may have it’s own negative effects, but could potentially help feed people as we adapt to climate change).
Of course the economic systems that support modern agriculture practices are more problematic, GMO or not.
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This is what you call as OG GMO.
Since they’re a hybrid of concord grapes, it’s likely coming from that. That hint of burnt comes off as a hint of weird fake grape to me.
Concord grape is what that artificial grape flavor is meant to mimic. But concord grapes themselves aren’t great for eating out of hand. They’re kinda chewy and gelatinous, with a very thick skin and big ole seeds. Same deal Niagara grapes which actually taste quite a bit like cotton candy grapes, but there’s tartness going on.
Mass market food companies seem a little obsessed with making table grapes taste like concord grapes, seemingly because they think grapes should taste like purple. Or maybe because they think if they can market fruit that tastes like the familiar purple stuff it’ll attract kids.
So I’m gonna guess this was an attempt to make a more concord flavored table grape, and once it came out tasting sorta like cotton candy they had their marketing hook.
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That makes a lot of sense. I kinda like Concord grapes. As a kid, food that ALLOWED spitting was a cheap thrill. Seedless watermelon and grapes are seldom as tasty (but those moon drops!)
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No. No, no, no, noooooo. That’s a ridiculous argument spun by the GMO industry to sell their projects. Genetic modification is the process of physically manipulating the genome by combining desired characteristics from other plants, often not even within the same family (like straight up Jurassic Park shit).
Cross-pollination, selective breeding or even grafting are not even remotely similar processes, not least of which because every single food crop we eat has been developed by the latter methods at some point, while gene manipulation is radically new. A plant can only accept pollen and grafts from like species; apples to apples, not apples to pears.
I am not an opponent of GMOs (though I do support fair food labeling requirements), but that comparison is absurd spin.
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+1 for Muscat grapes. A wonderful unique taste with a little bite of tannin. Where I am we get them briefly in summer/fall. I agree, cotton candy grapes are too sweet, & the flavor hits the uncanny valley in my mouth.
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I buy Moon Drops every time I see them!
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If you get a chance to go to an Asian market, try the Korean grapes, which a quick Google search taught me are also called Kyoho grapes.
Dark, deep flavor with seeds and a thick skin, but so good it’s worth the effort.
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