Everyone is saying what a good year it has been for the grapes. Along with apples and pears, grapes are being harvested now throughout Tasmania. Tasmania has lots of vineyards and many varieties do well in our climate and soil. At the last Grower's Market for the season, we were selling grapes...
and boy did we have to do a sell!
You may recognise these but shoppers sure don't.
These are typical dense clusters of small grapes that we were once used to see at the grocers but if you look at supermarkets now they generally have white or black grapes and they look like they have been through a McDonalds Drive Thru and been supersized.
These grapes have seeds because that is how nature designed fruit and once upon a time we ate them like this and simply swallowed the seed and didn't fear it going through our digestion. In fact it is now thought to be beneficial. So how screwed is this; we genetically modify food to not have the seed and then we take the seed which we should be swallowing naturally, process it into a bottle as an extract and then pay an exorbitant amount for it.
Those poor old super-sized seedless options at the supermarket don't really have a flavour I find. If you were to line up 10 people and asked them to describe the flavour I'll bet they would use the word "sweet" and boy are they. That is about all I can say about those grapes. They are so sweet that they don't really have that thirst quench anymore.
Those dark grapes above were described as being like pears poached in honey.
The pink ones were described as being like Turkish Delight with a delicate rosewater flavour.
Both varieties are sweet table grapes but both had definite flavours.
Do visit your grocers or farmers market (not your supermarkets, they won't have them) and ask them about the grapes they are buying in. Ask them what varieties are coming in and have a conversation with them. They should be able to describe the flavour and the skin type and may be able to supply a taste. Eat the grape, the whole grape and enjoy a nutrition and taste sensation you've been missing out on for too many years.
