You usually have a very straightforward choice when you buy grapes: red or white, very occasionally black. The Thompson’s seedless variety is ubiquitous, Flame and Crimson are well-represented and Autumn Royal and Midnight Beauty have walk-on parts. These varieties can be firm, juicy and not without charm, but they don’t overwhelm with flavour or perfume. If they do have any smell, it’s likely to be a dank one from their weeks in storage. ‘Fresh’ grapes may have been stored for months by the time you eat them, which is one reason why they often have a tinny aftertaste and leave a slightly unpleasant sensation in the mouth.
In supermarkets, the only grapes that really do have some personality are the large, white, seeded Muscat grapes with their appealing muscatel fragrance and taste. Greek grapes can also be better than average. In greengrocer’s shops, you may be able to buy small, seeded Turkish sultana grapes that can often be exceptionally sweet. Taste-wise, any seeded varieties you can find are likely to be better than the seedless sorts. The pips may be irritating, but such varieties are usually more aromatic. When grapes have slightly twig-like brown stems attaching them to their clusters, rather than the usual green ones, this is an indication that they have been picked later and so ripened more on the vine. They should be sweeter, and have more flavour as a result.
Things to do with grapes
• Grape halves, chopped leftover chicken or turkey and chopped pecans, all coated in a mixture of soured cream, mayonnaise and fresh herbs – such as tarragon, parsley and chives – make a substantial, main course salad.
• Use small or halved seedless black grapes in place of raisins to make a fresher, less cloying bread and butter pudding.
• For an elegant but simple dessert, macerate halved, stoned Muscat or Italia grapes in Vin Santo or a similar dessert wine. Dust with golden icing sugar and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Good with sweetened mascarpone.
• Bake fillets of white fish in white wine, strain off the cooking juices and use these to make a thin white sauce. Add a little cream and halved, deseeded green grapes just before serving, in the style of the classic French sole Véronique.
• Clusters of small, sweet grapes really complement a strong, salty blue cheese, served at room temperature.
Are grapes good for me?
Grapes are a reasonably good source of B vitamins, which help give you energy and support brain function, and are one of the best sources of potassium, which helps moderate blood pressure. Otherwise their main health virtue is that they contain a number of beneficial phytochemicals. These include the stilbenoid, resveratrol, which some research suggests may have an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer action, and the flavonol, quercitin, which may reduce the incidence of asthma and certain cancers.
Grapes are the very worst fruit for containing pesticide residues. Over the last few years, the problem has been so bad that the European Commission has regularly issued EU-wide Rapid Alerts. Tests have shown that almost all grapes are contaminated with residues, typically multiple residues of up to eleven different pesticides. In one case, German authorities found a sample containing residues of twenty-six. Grapes routinely contain residues over the maximum permitted limit. The problem has been most marked in grapes from Chile. There is therefore an extremely strong argument for buying organic grapes. Organic growers can use just two pesticides in grape production and only when there is no other option. Conventional growers have an armoury at their disposal and use them routinely. No residues have been detected in organic grapes in recent years.
Grapes can sometimes cause allergies because they have been fumigated with sulphur. This treatment is not permitted on organic grapes.
How are grapes grown?
Grapes are cultivated on vines. They are imported to the UK and Ireland from Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece), the Middle East (Egypt, Turkey, Israel), and Morocco, the US, India, South Africa and Chile.
Unless grapes are organically grown, they are frequently sprayed with pesticides because they are very susceptible to insect and fungal attacks that damage the crop and reduce its value.
Once hand-picked, bunches of grapes are taken to a packhouse then put into cold stores. Since they are prone to fungal rot and infestation with insects such as spiders, the grapes are fumigated. A number of different chemical fumigants are used, the most common one being sulphur dioxide. Grapes are fumigated once a week during storage and can be kept for up to five months, depending on the variety.
THE INVALID’S FRUIT
Grapes are traditionally the invalid’s fruit, the treat that sits on your hospital locker. But grapes have also landed a steady stream of people in hospital as patients, rather than visitors. Over the years, supermarket grapes have provided personal injuries lawyers with a regular source of income. The scenario for litigation is the unwary shopper who slips on a runaway grape then crashes down on the smooth, tiled, unforgivingly hard supermarket floor. To limit their liability, supermarkets strategically place mats around the grape gondolas, but some hefty out-of-court settlements with wounded parties have forced them to change their packaging. Nowadays, most supermarket grapes are sold in zip-up bags or sealed cartons to stop any escapees. This doesn’t mean that grapes have lost their potential for litigation entirely. It still leaves that other occasional grape hazard: spiders. Black widow and false widow spiders love grapes and pickers do not always spot them on the clusters. If they make it to cold storage, they can curl up and go to sleep, then wake up again when they warm up to room temperature. A close encounter with a comatose arachnid, however, is rarely dangerous, and tends to be dealt with by an offer of money back, not thousands of pounds in compensation.
Are grapes a green choice?
The heavy use of pesticides in grape production causes pollution, encourages soil erosion and has negative impacts on wildlife and the surrounding environment.
Imported grapes are generally transported by ship and lorry, but some grapes from further afield, such as Chile, are air-freighted, which uses up more fuel and produces more greenhouse gases. For us to eat grapes grown under the shadow of the Andes in Chile, or Table Mountain in South Africa, the environment has to pay a very high price.
When should I buy grapes?
Grapes are on offer all year round. The best time for buying European grapes that have not been fumigated and stored for weeks is August, September and October, when white Greek grapes, Italian Muscat grapes and Turkish sultana grapes come on to the market.
Will grapes break the bank?
Grapes are always a pricey buy. Prices tend to stay the same throughout the year, irrespective of seasonal availability. If you need to save money, consider other cheaper fruit alternatives first.