Black Monukka Seedless Grape

Here’s my Black Monukka in training on the north end of my T trellises. It’s a great table grape variety for my area, plus it is used in the production of raisins.

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Some types of raisins maybe. But Thompson seedless is used to make 95% of CA raisins. Black Monukka is less than 1%. http://www.iv.ucdavis.edu/files/24430.pdf

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at the date of that publication.

This publication from 1999 doesn’t even mention Monukka: http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/cagrapes-raisin.pdf

I can assure you the acreage hasn’t changed significantly since then. Thompson still vastly dominates.

What will gain share going forward is the DOV types, dry on the vine. But they are still a drop in the bucket.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. :slightly_smiling:

It is mostly used in specialty markets such as health food stores for its unique qualities, including blackish color, tender skin, and characteristic rich flavor.

Sounds like a delicious grape & raisin Richard. How productive is it?

After 5 years in the ground on a 5’ high 12’ wide T trellis in Rancho Peñasquitos it produced about a dozen good bunches per year.

Wish i was closer to taste it!

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Fruit buds, 2016-04-04

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Cane growth as of 4/30/2016

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A few of the many bunches in development 7/7/2016

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Not very black. Did you pick early due to powdery mildew?

No. :smiley:
The heat here is uneven for ripening grapes; e.g. mid 80’s in the day and high 60’s at night. So the grapes you see on the plate are actually mature in flavor but not in color. The grapes on the vine won’t be picked for another week.

Interesting. Ours came off a month ago and were black. Very very good grape.

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Summer Royal is my favorite black grape. It makes sensational coal black raisins by just setting them in the sun. No treatment needed. They were extremely flavorful fresh this yr. Both SR and BM are black here and were in Fresno.

Yes. :smiley:

Got out my KitchenAid attachments this evening and expressed one of those bunches into 2 cups of juice. :smiley:

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Those two cups provided 1 tray of ice cubes and 1/2 glass of juice.

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Tonight I expressed 9 lb 7 oz of grape bunches to 8 lb 10 oz of grape juice :smiley:.

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