Cotton Candy Grapes

General Fruit Growing
#1

I recently came across a blog that mentioned these Grapes and how the person wowed when first trying one.Does anyone grow these or bought them.They look like the light green ones usually sold in the market,but their flavor is apparently like cotton candy. Brady
Here is a link for more information–http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/08/05/209222126/the-cotton-candy-grape-a-sweet-spin-on-designer-fruit

#2

Brady

I bought some at Costco and they were green and very good with a truly cotton candy flavor. It probably a club product only.

Tony

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#3

I bought some last year around this time. I enjoyed the first few, but then the cotton candy flavor became too overpowering and artificially sweet. The same company makes a variety called witch’s fingers that are pretty good.

#4

same here, wife picked some up from BJ’s…something that says cotton candy, how can you not try it from a novelty standpoint, but they got old after a handful or two…my preference would be regular grapes over these any day.

#5

Brady:

Try Summer Muscat if you want great flavor. I don’t think you’ll get tired of that taste.

#6

I bought them at Sams…i saw them at Super Target too… i honestly don’t like them.

#7

OK,thanks for the replies.I guess it’s fair to say,they are sickly sweet.I wonder what the brix might be.A coworker said he saw some at the local store.Maybe I’ll get a couple loose ones to taste and measure.
Thanks for the recommendation for Summer Muscat,fruitnut.I’ll be looking for them. Brady

#8

I had these for the first time recently and I couldn’t stop eating them, my daughter and I finished the entire container.

I’ll be looking for more on the next trip to the store!

#9

Ya put me in the category of finding them disgusting. Just really sweet and soft, ugh.

As an edit the aftertaste was really off-putting.

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#10

@Bradybb the flavor for cotton candy came from the university of arkansas breeding program. some of the uark grapes are called out as having similar flavor, especially “compassion”, which would likely grow well for us (the other uark grapes tend to do well)

unfortunately, living in oregon, only a few nurseries will ship here and none (that I can find) sell this grape, so I haven’t tried it

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#11

Yeah, the sugar:acid balance in Cotton Candy is really off. If it’s sold in your area, Candy Heart has a better level of acidity in my opinion.

#12

As someone who would eat things like smarties and pixy stix as a child… they tap into that part of my brain, not the nuanced adult palate. When I do buy them, I can easily eat too many.

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#13

In my experience, the “cotton candy” type of grapes that have the best taste are from The Grapery. Any of the other brand ones are lacking in flavor.

I did some research many years ago in my desire to grow them myself. What I discovered at that time is that the flavor was the result of a cross between an unspecified native North American grape (think bronze muscadine) and another grape, and I don’t recall if they specified what that second one was either. I believe that they want to keep a very tight rein on that cultivar so that they don’t lose their market share. I had actually purchased grapevine rootstocks in the hope that I could purchase a large enough bunch of grapes that The Grapery had produced that I might be able to graft a large stem and propagate my own, but my life circumstances made it impossible to follow through on that desire.

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#14

How disease resistant are they?

#15

I really like Cotton Candy grapes but there’s possibly several varieties marketed that way at this point. I find the one available in spring (anytime now) called “Rio Peru Cotton Candy grapes”. It’s sweeter and the cotton candy flavor doesn’t overpower like the ones available later in the season

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#16

Likely not very. Even in my greenhouse I had issues with skin cracking. No issues like that with any other grape. I’m hoping Diamond Muscat will be better than Summer Muscat was.

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#17

Darn. Thanks for the reply @fruitnut

#18

I should have specified this, as I just realized that I accidentally left it unsaid: it is my understanding that the cotton candy flavored grape was originally developed by The Grapery. There are usurpers that use terms like “tastes like cotton candy”, but to me none of those have as pronounced a flavor and are disappointing to me.

#19

I must have bought these grapes at least 12 times in like two years time, despite how expensive they are. It’s very obvious based upon the taste, and the firmness/tough peel that they have much of the time that they do have Muscadine in their dna. Once I had a batch that were much softer and they reminded me of the flavor of golden Kiwi, as odd as that sounds, they always have a cotton candy like flavor, and the strength of that flavor does vary a lot.

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