What are Cotton Candy Grapes?
“Cotton Candy grapes”: it’s a catchy name, but these specialty grapes aren’t just a clever marketing ploy. Through their robust plant breeding program, Grapery actually developed a table grape that tastes like cotton candy.
Admit it, we’ve all fallen prey to a few impulse buys at the grocery store – even in the produce aisle. With pretty pink packaging and gorgeous light green fruit, Cotton Candy grapes already stand out on the shelf. The fact that the name implies that the grapes might taste like cotton candy is really just the final straw; curiosity lands the bag at the top of your shopping cart, whether grapes were on your original grocery list or not.
Unlike most impulse purchases, however, this one lives up to the hype. Cotton Candy grapes really do boast the irresistible flavor of cotton candy. Which leaves us wondering – what kind of witchcraft makes that possible?
How are Cotton Candy grapes created?
Turns out, there’s a particular kind of “magic” involved – Cotton Candy grapes are the result of plant breeding, specifically cross-pollination. This might sound super complicated, but it’s actually a common agricultural practice. In simple terms, cross-pollination involves crossing two different varieties of grapes to produce a new hybrid grape that ideally exhibits the most desirable traits from each parent plant.
Jim Beagle, one of the owners of Grapery, explains, “There are wild grape species all over the world that have incredible flavors. We’re searching for these wild species and breeding those flavors into thin-skinned seedless grapes that consumers can enjoy.”
Naturally enhancing, not creating
While the Grapery set out to naturally create new and exciting table grape shapes and flavors, developing a specialty grape that tasted specifically like cotton candy was simply a happy accident. Jim recalls, “We weren’t able to say ‘we want to target creating a grape that tastes like cotton candy’. We just started mixing things that we knew had great flavors, and things like cotton candy came out.”
Jim notes that it’s important to remember that creating entirely new grape flavors isn’t possible. The plant-breeding program can only intensify the parent grape’s existing attributes. Defending his point, he argues, “We are limited to things that occur naturally. Some wild species of grapes have hints of cotton candy flavor.” Laughing to himself, he adds, “We’re not going to have a chocolate-flavored grape or a steak-flavored grape anytime soon.”
Candy Grapes Grapery grapes are an all-natural, non-GMO product – meaning they are not genetically modified in any way! In fact, there are no GMO grapes commercially available at all.
Flavor from the field: nature vs. nurture
Cotton Candy grapes were bred for their distinctive flavor – but that flavor has to be properly developed in the field. Jim argues that the flavor just wouldn’t be the same without the Grapery’s rigorous harvest practices. He confides, “The secret is we get grapes really ripe before we harvest them. That’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do. Every grape is harvested by hand. We have workers that come in and select bunches off the vine and clip each bunch individually, and they have to decide whether or not that cluster tastes like cotton candy or not. When you walk up to a vine of cotton candy, and it has 30 or 40 bunches of grapes on it, they don’t all get ripe at the same time. So, we work really hard to train our workers. We’re constantly out here tasting fruit and monitoring the crop so that we always deliver that great cotton candy flavor.”
What do Cotton Candy grapes taste like?
At risk of stating the obvious, Cotton Candy grapes taste like…you guessed it…cotton candy – just without any added sugar or artificial flavors. However, most grapes are sweet, so what exactly sets Cotton Candy grapes apart from your regular green grapes? Jim explains, “One of the things that we’ve learned when we breed for flavor is that sweetness isn’t the same thing as flavor. You can have sweet that’s just sugar, but it’s also flavorless. And so we’re trying to bring flavor on top of sweetness into grapes. When we develop grapes that have that cotton candy flavor, that flavor in addition to the sweetness makes for a much richer eating experience.”
When are Cotton Candy grapes in season?
Cotton Candy grapes are in season from late summer through early fall. Harvest typically starts in mid-July, and Cotton Candy grapes are available in grocery stores through September.
Did you know that California table grapes are in season from May through January? Our growers produce over 80 different varieties of red, green and black grapes for you to enjoy.
Where are Cotton Candy grapes grown?
Cotton Candy grapes are grown exclusively by Grapery in California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Where can you find Cotton Candy grapes?
Look for Cotton Candy grapes at grocery stores across the United States. Use Grapery’s interactive map to find Cotton Candy grapes at a retailer near you!
Explore Grapery’s line-up of tasty table grapes!
Look for the following Grapery grapes at major retailers across the U.S.! Use their interactive map to find Grapery grapes near you.
Cotton Candy: Sweet green grapes bursting with the unmistakable flavor of cotton candy
Gum Drops: Small red globes with intense candy-like flavor
Moon Drops: Black grapes, with an oblong shape and crunchy texture
Tear Drops: Crisp + juicy green grapes with a long finger-like shape
Flavor Pop: The sweetest, snappiest green, black and red grapes
Article and photography by Hilary Rance. Aerial vineyard image by James Collier, Grapery product image courtesy of Grapery.