To All,
While sightseeing in Wegman's on 23 July 2015, what to my wondering eyes should appear but Champagne grapes, a type of grape that I had never before seen. They are tiny grapes about a quarter of an inch across. I figured that these were worth a try since, in addition to being new to me, many fruits like strawberries and blueberries taste better when small; the usual explanation is that their smallness indicates that they have not been subjected to commercial breeding, which tends to result in an increase of size and a loss of taste. For $2.99 I bought a container that was advertised as being one pound; when I weighed it, however, I found that the total weight of container plus grapes was 1.332 pounds. Later, I emptied the container and found that it weighed 0.108 pounds, so the net weight was 1.224 pounds, which meant that the cost was $2.44 per pound.
As is often the case with fruit that comes in a bag or box, the PLU code was not shown. It also did not appear on the sales slip. Thanks to the newly discovered reverse PLU site (e-mail of 1 Aug 2015), in about ten seconds I was able to determine that the PLU code for champagne grapes is 4271.
Here are pictures of my Champagne grapes.
- The closed container showing the label.
- The open container showing the grapes.
- The first bunch of grapes that I pulled out of the container.
- The second bunch of grapes that I pulled out of the container.
- The denuded stem of the second bunch of grapes after I had stripped off and eaten the grapes.
- An individual grape, with a full-sized silver dollar for scale.
- Two grapes showing the range of sizes. Pictured is a small (but not the smallest) grape and a large (but not the largest) grape.
I extracted a bunch of grapes from the container. As the first picture above shows, the bunch was very compact and dense. I was apprehensive that it would be tedious to separate this host of tiny grapes from the stem. I gently stroked the bunch with my fingers, and about a dozen grapes came effortlessly into my hand, so my apprehension turned out to be unfounded. (It's a good thing that it is easy to eat a mass of grapes all at once since eating these tiny grapes one at a time would make about as much sense as eating rice one grain at a time.) The taste was very grapelike; it was at least as intense as the standard grapes sold in stores and was supplemented with a hint of sourness. The mix of sweet and sour was very appealing. In fact, the sourness reminded me of the wild grapes that are common around Boston. The wild grapes are bigger, are awkward to eat since they contain a large, fibrous seed, and are much more sour than the Champagne grapes. When you chance upon ripe, wild grapes, the sourness gets to you so that, while they are good, you are usually satisfied after eating only a few. In the Champagne grapes, however, this sourness is tempered. Before I knew it, I had eaten the entire bunch of Champagne grapes. They were easy to eat since they were seedless. I reached for another bunch and quickly downed it.
The verdict is that these grapes are a very nice mix of grape flavored sweetness and and sourness. The only hesitation is that at a net cost of $2.44 per pound, as compared to the usual range of $0.99-1.99 per pound for standard grapes in grocery stores, these are somewhat expensive. Despite this cost disadvantage, my view is that these grapes make such a nice change of pace that the extra cost is worth it.
Even though these are grapes, they are the size of peas, and it turns out that size trumps all. You will eat these not as grapes, one at a time, but as peas, a mouthful at a time.
These grapes were originally called black Corinth grapes and are the smallest of the seedless grapes. These grapes are popular for decorating cheese trays. Because they are about the size of pearls, they can, unlike larger grapes, be mixed into a variety of foods such as scones, puddings, cereals, granola, and yogurt; in short, they can be used much like blueberries. They make tiny raisins; the first picture below compares regular raisins to Champagne grape raisins, often called Zante currants. (These grapes are not true currants; for more on the relationship between currants and Champagne grapes, see the appendix.) The second picture shows Champagne grapes being dried in the sun on the Greek Island of Zakynthos.
As you would guess from the name of black Corinth grapes, these grapes originated in Greece; they were named after Corinth, the chief port that exported them. They were written about in 75 A.D. by Pliny the Elder. They were brought to the U.S. in 1854, but production remained small until the 1920s and 1930s when improved methods of cultivation were put into use, and the level of production has stayed the same since. They were renamed when an advertising campaign showed them scattered around a flute of champagne; the marketeer claimed that they resembled the bubbles in a glass of Champagne. Champagne wine is not made from these grapes.
One Internet expert claims that the stems are edible. To test this assertion, I chewed and swallowed a portion of the stem pictured above and was pleased by its tart taste and, in fact, pleased by the experience as a whole. I rate a Champagne grape stem as better than most vegetables. Another Internet expert demonstrated an alternate way to eat a mass of grapes in this video, which shows that you can down a small cluster of grapes, stem and all, at one gulp. I decided to give this a try. In the pictures below, you can see a mini-bunch of grapes, which I maneuvered into my mouth; I bit off the stalk, chewed the grapes and stem together, and swallowed; you see what survived. I found this a highly satisfactory way to eat Champagne grapes. If you're a caveman, you can just take a bite out of a large bunch. I bet the nutritionistas would tell you that the stem is the healthiest part. For comparison, I tried to eat a stem from standard grapes; it was prickly and impossible to chew. One wonders how the first human discovered that the stem of Champagne grapes was edible. I figure it was a teenage boy trying to impress a girl. I can imagine the adult response when he told them that Champagne grape stems were good to eat.
My plan was to save the stems and the container, weigh them, and subtract this from the total weight reported above to obtain the net weight of the grapes. This plan fell through since I ate the stems. Therefore, the net weight reported above includes the weight of the stems. My guess is that the gracile stems weighed almost nothing.
The small size and unusual flavor of these grapes make them a favorite of gourmet cooks. From the almost endless array of Champagne grape dishes for which you can find recipes on the Internet, I have culled three.
- Pan-seared scallops with Champagne grapes (recipe)
- Champagne grapes on cornmeal crusted pizza with carmelized onions, gorgonzola and almonds (recipe for this and other dishes)
- Cherry tomato and Champagne grape tart (recipe)
If you have fallen in love with these little jewels, consult this site for tips on how to grow them at home.
Fruit Alert: Because Champagne grapes fall off the stem so easily and because they are small and round, they readily escape and roll away. You just cannot contain them. For days after eating them, I kept finding strays in hiding places around the kitchen.
Here's your party tip. Once the dinner dishes are cleared away and it's time to serve dessert, give each guest a bunch of Champagne grapes. Your guests will ooh and aah at these picturesque, pygmy grapes; they will gasp in astonishment when they discover how eagerly the grapes leap from the stem into their hands; they will swoon when they taste the unusual and highly pleasing flavor. Your guests will leave raving about the grand new taste sensation that you have introduced them to, and they will marvel at how you are a master of the memorable surprise. Be aware, however, that the season is short for Champagne, grapes, so you must schedule your party with precision.
Rick
Appendix: Etymology of "Currant"
The currant plant produces a berry that can be eaten or made into jams or other products. Currants grow wild in New England, though they are not often seen. I once saw currants around Chimney Pond at the base of Mount Katahdin. It turns out that currants have an unexpected connection with Champagne grapes, as told by this site.
Raisins made from what are now called Champagne grapes or black Corinth grapes were first imported into England around 1500. I don't know what the Greeks called these grapes, but the English applied the term "Curans" to them since this was the term used at the time for the port of Corinth that exported these grapes. About 1570 the plant that we now call the currant came to England; since its fruit when dried resembled the black Corinth raisins, the term "Curans" was transferred to this plant, and as time passed this evolved into "currant." Currants and grapes are not closely related. (Currants are in the genus Ribes, which is usually placed in the currant family, Grossulariaceae, though sometimes in the saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae. Grapes are in the genus Vitis in the Vitacea, the vine family. Champagne grapes are Vitis vinifera.) In short, currants are named after both the town of Corinth and the black Corinth grapes.
Here are some currant pictures.
- A red currant, which shows not only the berries but also the distinctive leaves, which in the field can be used to quickly tell that you have found a currant.
- Close-up of red currant berries.
- A black currant plant, which shows that this plant is usually several feet tall.
- Close-up of black currant berries.
It should be noted that "currant" is still in some situations applied to Champagne grapes. For example, Wikipedia refers to the raisins of Champagne grapes as Zante currants. The first word in this name comes from the Ionian island of Zakynthos (see picture above), also called "Zante."
As an aside, the black currant was popular in the U.S. in the 19th century. It was dropped by farmers, however, after it was banned by the federal government in the early 1900s when it was learned that black currant transmitted white pine blister rust, which threatened the logging industry. In 1966, however, jurisdiction was shifted to the states, and in 2003 the black currant revival began when New York okayed the planting of black currant; some but not all states followed New York's lead. In New England, black currants can now be legally farmed in Vermont and Connecticut. Black currant, though now partially legal, has not regained the popularity that it had in the U.S. in the 19th century or that it currently enjoys in Europe. (This paragraph is drawn from Wikipedia.)
