Perusing the local market today and saw muscadines for sale. Great! I’ve always wanted to taste them. Plopped one in my mouth. Terrible… Like eating a leather ball of pulp. Only thing I’ve had with worse mouth feel is leechee.
Surely you guys don’t eat the skin? Maybe I got unripe ones but that skin is terrible.
EDIT:. The flavor of these are actually quite good. I still can’t eat the skin but ive come around to liking them.
Well, I have enjoyed the thin-skinned, seedless, green grapes when buying a few bunches and either eating them chilled or frozen. You can eat them as fast as a coon, or take them slowly. If that is your preference, good for you. On the other hand, Pierce’s Disease stops me from growing those here, and the humidity/rain/moisture sure helps fungi to ruin the fruit also. So I would have to spend time and $ spraying them…Muscadines from the “best” varieties of vines that are home grown and picked individually when at their prime can taste so much better than any of the zillions of store-bought grapes that I have ever eaten. And I NEVER have to spray anything on them. And Pierce’s is no problem. Yep, the thick skin requires good molars and patient chewing, but the resveratrol nutrient benefit is a good thing for health. Spitting seeds is normal for watermelon eaters, so no big deal there. Just don’t serve muscadines at formal events with the tuxes and evening gowns. Maybe your sample could have been with better fruit picked at their prime, but the thick, protective skin (a good thing) and seeds come with the territory. Just because the prom date shows up on prom night with a big, fat, red pimple on the tip of the nose does not mean that all dates do.
I Love Muscadines, A good one is one of the most complex flavors of fruit I grow. Yes the skins are tough and seeded, and I am probably in the minority that on many I eat skins seeds and all
I think most people don’t eat the skins of muscadines. I normally point the stem scar toward my mouth, pop the flesh into my mouth, then scrape the remaining juicy/pulpy part into my mouth with my front teeth, throw the skin away, and then spit the seeds out. In terms of flavor, I’ve never had any other type of grape that comes close to pleasing my palate as much as a good muscadine – I’m especially fond of the bronze varieties – but the skin and seeds do limit how many I eat fresh. I wonder what brix readings on typical supermarket grapes are. However sweet they are, I don’t care for them at all. I’d much rather eat muscadines, even with the skin and seeds.
Supreme and Black Beauty are two very large and sweet varieties. The skin is also thinner. These two are my favorites and I do eat the skin. Although the seed can be eaten I usually discard those.
I think the purple ones are significantly tastier than the golden ones, but yeah, the skin is thick. The purple ones are like a Concord grape on steroids.
I like both muscadines and lychees, though I’ve only had muscadines a couple times. The common component is mostly high sugar levels- the texture is different. The two times I got muscadines at the store, once was black and once was bronze (like you had). I ate the skins, but spit out the seeds. I should stop by some high end stores (I’ve never seen them at normal grocery stores) again soon and check for more muscadines.
This year, I’ve got 3 vines with 1-4 grapes each. I’m not too optimistic about them escaping the birds and animals long enough to be picked.
I eat the skins, too.
If everyone’s first apple was a tart Granny Smith many people would never try another apple thinking they all taste alike. There are many muscadine varieties out there and some I like better than others but all of them have a thicker skin than grapes. The thicker skin helps keep down black rot and other fruit damage. In many cases no spray or fertilizer is needed. Drought resistance is another great quality. With all this said there is no need to grow something you don’t like.
Most of those grapes seem to be green to me. A few are starting to turn bronze. I think you would enjoy truly ripe muscadines off the vine, like Matt said Concord on steroids. The skin seems to be a little thinner and less tough when fully ripe and the inside will also have more juice. Having said that I don’t eat the skin or seeds.
If anyone is interested- Ison of Georgia is shipping muscadine FRUIT starting this week, for a limited time only, if you’re willing to pay their asking price. If you can’t grow them yourself, or find them at your local grocers, then this might be the most reputable source for tasting this uncommon fruit.
Here’s the link:
http://store.isons.com/fresh-muscadine-fruit
In the Deep South, people like to make wine out of them.
I offered some of these to my daughter when she got home from school today and she actually liked them a lot. I picked out the ones that were more bronze color and admittedly the flavor is pretty nice. They do have a Concord flavor. My daughter would shoot the pulp in her mouth and then suck the remaining juice from the skins.
Will these things mature in the fridge? Will the green turn to bronze? I think as much as anything she liked calling them scuppernongs. Lol
Speedster- When I am handpicking these to eat, I ONLY pick those that are beginning to be slightly soft to the squeezers, have just lost their skin’s semi-shine in favor of having a “flat” finish ( in paint terms, changed from ‘satin’ to ‘flat’) and have just become slightly less greenish in favor of being a tiny bit more barely brownish. Yummy. Those that are still hard, brighter green, and still have a shine are not sweet or enjoyable. But the coons and possums will still eat them when under ripe.
The green ones in your pack are unripe try the bronze colored ones. Bite gently with the stem scar side in your mouth and suck out the goody whiles pushing on the back with your fingers. watch for the the bitter seeds though. After the pulp is out be sure to squeeze out all the juice left on the inside walls of the hull. Yum!
There’s kind of a trick to eating them but you’ll quickly become a master at it. After the pulp is in my mouth I bite on the pulp and push the seeds out through my teeth with my tongue. Kind of hard to explain but that’s about the best way I know how. I eat the skins from some varieties but mostly just eat the inside.
Sorry didn’t see where you said you liked the bronze ones. As far as will they ripen more the answer is sadly no. I haven’t had luck with ripening any off the vine but maybe if placed in a paper bag with an apple they might but I never tried it.
Has anyone here tried the Razzmatazz Muscadine hybrid?
According to the marketing it combines the better aspects of more traditional grapes with the advantages of Muscadines.
[quote]Combining the sweet flavor and tender-crisp
texture of table grapes with the
disease resistance and native hardiness
of muscadines, RazzMatazz is the first
seedless grape to provide gardeners with
true fruiting success without spraying.
The first ever continuous fruiting grape,
RazzMatazz will set blooms and fruit all
summer, so you get to enjoy the rich sweet
flavor of these gorgeous deep burgundy
grapes midsummer to first frost.[/quote]
http://www.gurneys.com/product/razzMatazz
It sounds good… but I haven’t found anyone actually growing it.
When these first came out they where $90 for 1 bareroot plant. I’m glad to see the price drop.
I have considered adding this muscadine several times but the lack of good data on it has kept me skeptical of buying…
