The craziest fruit on the market lately are the delicious new Cotton Candy grapes. But the big question that everyone is asking is, what are cotton candy grapes? I’ve been of fan of these grapes since my mom brought them home last summer. I didn’t read the bag when I first bit into one and suddenly I thought there must be something wrong with them because they tasted way too candy-like.
Once I read the bag, I realized there was no mistake. This new fruit will run you anywhere from $4-6 per pound, so before you pick up a bag, you should make sure they are absolutely worth it.
How Are Cotton Candy Grapes Made?
These sweet new treats are made through cross-breeding. According to the Los Angeles Times, pollen from male grape flowers is extracted and then carefully brushed onto the female clusters of the target plant. After that, there must be a lot of patience, because the planters will be waiting, replanting, and continuing the process over again, sometimes for years on end before they get the taste of grape they’re looking for.
The grapes are grown from the producer Grapery and were specifically created by a horticulturalist named David Cain and his team. Cain says that he breeds seedless grapes, but they can’t reproduce on their own. After fertilizing the plant, Cain and his team take out the baby embryos and grow them in test tubes one by one in a lab, all before they’re ever planted in the field.
Even more impressive is the fact that Cain created almost 100,000 test tube plants before he came across the cotton-candy flavored grapes. The whole process, he says, takes anywhere from six to 15 years.
What Do Cotton Candy Grapes Taste Like?
That might have all sounded like a lot of complicated science to some, but the long-awaited result happens to be very simple. Cotton Candy grapes are a very sweet treat that taste just like the airy, sugary dessert without the stickiness or the calories of real cotton candy.
The best part? You would have to eat over 100 grapes to consume the same number of calories as a candy bar. That’s because there are 18 grams of sugar per 100 grams of grapes, which is 12 percent more than normal grapes and apparently that is even less sugar than that of raisins.
Even though they won’t add to your calorie count, these grapes are extremely sweet and even have a hint of vanilla about them, which was a purposeful act. NPR reports that “To get that vanilla flavor into the table grapes naturally, Cain and his team had to widen the plants’ gene pool, mixing in genes from less common grape species.” That extra hint of vanilla is exactly what gives the grape that extra hint of sweetness. Without it, I think you’d feel as if something was missing.
To answer the many questions we had at the beginning: what are Cotton Candy Grapes? They are delicious grapes made after many attempts at cross-breeding. What do they taste like? Like cotton candy, of course, but with a wonderful hint of vanilla at the end that completes the trip down nostalgia lane. And finally, are they worth the money? At my local grocery store, these grapes go for about $4 per pound, which isn’t a terrible price for how pleasant they are compared to other grapes. So I would say yes, they are very worth it.