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luigi_13

Muscadine Grape

luigi_13
11 years ago

please, can anyone tell me what a Muscadine Grape tastes like?

This fruit is unknown here, and I would order a plant.

Comments (14)

  • queenbee_1
    11 years ago

    The Muscadine taste vary from variety to variety as it does in most fruits.. I have some that are very sweet (20% sugar) and I have some that are more for wine and they are less sweet and not as juicy... Where are you located? Here in the south, you can find them growing wild in the woods.

  • bamboo_rabbit
    11 years ago

    He is in Italy. Not sure how to describe the taste...the skin is tough and the inside is sweet. Some describe it as foxy but that is not going to help you at all. Some of the varieties are spicy. They are a soft grape no crunch like a table grape.

  • Scott F Smith
    11 years ago

    A very rough approximation is 75% grape 25% lychee for the texture and taste. It doesn't have the exact lychee aromatic but something that is more like that than the usual grape ones.

    Scott

  • m_taggart
    11 years ago

    Flavor and texture can vary quite widely. You should also know that muscadines include a pale colored grape called scuppernongs.

    Taste can vary from very sweet to quite tart. I enjoy the flavor much more than vitus vinifera, as I find them more complex. I can eat the sweet ones by the quart. The tarter varieties I can eat only a few and I'm done.

    The skins on muscadines are much thicker than those of typical grapes and moderately chewy. Most folks I know spit out the skins, though I find them to be the best part of the grape. Be aware that you will get large amounts of fiber by ingesting the skins. Some people will experience a great deal of gas/gastrointestinal distress from the large amounts of fiber.

    Also, each grape will have around 4 large seeds. I find the seeds very bitter, and will spit them out. However, they are very high in antioxidants and are considered good for your health.

  • luigi_13
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    "volpino", meaning "foxy", is how we describe the flavour of a wild species of grape growing here, northern part of Italy. As I read this fruit seems a medley of a strawberry grape as for the texture of the skin and sweetness of the underskin (while the pulp here is quite sour) and a muscat grape or a wild one, and that sounds very appealing to me. I think I will order a plant of a black fruited var. from a nursery in the USA, as it is said to be self fertile.
    Thank you all for the help!

  • bamboo_rabbit
    11 years ago

    Luigi,

    I like Nesbitt it is a dark grape and tastes like a concord...though that probably does not help you at all:) Good luck.

  • queenbee_1
    11 years ago

    I have Cowart (black) which is large,juicy and has a 17% sugar cotent..

  • HGFzone8
    11 years ago

    I grow them for jelly and a very sweet fortified wine. The dark nearly black ones makes wonderful Concord like grape jelly.

  • glib
    11 years ago

    If I may offer some translation, strawberry grape = Concord.

  • armyofda12mnkeys
    11 years ago

    I find them comparable with large grapes with more flavor... usually a hint of a cinnamon-y flavor. Texture like Lychee's in they squeeze out of the shell. I don't like the super-tartness of the skin (and I like semi-tart fruits usually like raw quince, pomegranates, currants), but my friends like it (i did however liked chewying the seeds with the pulp as it adds a tart crunch to the pulp). I liked the 'Bronze Scuppernongs' variety? I bought at the grocery store more than the dark skinned ones they had (more flavor to me).

  • luigi_13
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes, I suspected Concord was what we call strawberry grape, as it is a name we also use for one of the two varieties we grow here (the other is called "anesa", meaning aniseed). Again many thanks to you all, and in addition to the black variety I will order a Scuppernongs one too: I like to have novelty fruits in my orchard...

  • queenbee_1
    11 years ago

    You will like Scuppernong.. It's a nice flavor.. Please come back and let us know what you think about the var. you get...

  • HU-992187
    7 years ago

    The muscadines variety Supreme is the best of the muscadines
    I know about in my area. Lane and Majesty are reported to be very good for some
    people in other areas but my vines are too young to evaluate. I’m looking to
    find someone who has grown them alongside each other for a comparison. It seems
    strange that “Majesty” is so hard to find in nurseries given it was introduced seven
    years ago by FAMU. Do you have any information on this variety? Productivity?
    Flavor? Size? Vigor? How does it compare to Supreme and/or Lane?

  • garymc
    6 years ago

    In your area? Where is that? I can tell you a little about the Majesty. In 2012 I contacted the researcher who bred and selected it at FAMU. I also was looking for it and couldn't find it. He said that it had been released to a nursery in Florida, but that place went out of business and no others had stepped up. I stopped by there in February of 2012 and got the 3 vines from him. I think since then some other nurseries have been selling them. One reason they shy away is the fact that it's a female. I have a Supreme that I also bought in 2012. It has yet to reach the trellis wire. It was killed back in 2015 like the rest, but it had done very little before that and hasn't recovered nearly as well as all the other varieties. It has never had more than 5 grapes on it. For me, the Supreme has been less productive, less vigorous, and even less cold hardy than the Majesty. I have an Ison that is possibly my most productive vine. Like others, I had read the Arkansas trials where they panned the Ison for winter damage, lack of vigor, etc. That has not been my experience. The Ison grapes also are good tasting eaten fresh. My best tasting grapes are the Ison and Eudora in the purple and Tara for the bronze ones. I have a couple of Darlenes, but they haven't produced much yet because they're younger than my others, so I'm withholding judgement on the quality of the grapes. The vines are vigorous, but so far not very productive.