# Grape + Apple = Grapple **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740 "2004-11-08T23:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/1 "2004-11-08T23:00:21Z")
HI Sitting here on the desk is an odd bit of produce I found in the grocery the other day. it is called Grapple (pronounced Grape+el), the price was right near five bucks for 4 grapples,quite high but curiosity got the better of prudence and I had to try them.They look for the most part like an apple about the size of a small winesap same texture also, although i couldn’t say what type of grape they taste like.Has anyone else come across these fruits? PS it would seem that someone has too much free tyme on their hands 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/2 "2004-11-08T23:07:25Z")
It’s basically a Fuji apple that’s been soaked in grape juice: [http://www.getfitfoods.com/grapple\_story.html](http://www.getfitfoods.com/grapple_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/3 "2004-11-08T23:11:12Z")
[ur=http://www.getfitfoods.com/grapple\_story.html]Here’s some info on the Grapple. I read about it a few weeks ago and was fascinated. I went to the link on that page for the Grapple’s producer (C&O Nursery) and there was nary a word on their site about it! I think I tried to email them about where I can find Grapples in my area but either never heard back or their email form was broken. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/4 "2004-11-08T23:23:02Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > It’s basically a Fuji apple that’s been soaked in grape juice: > > [http://www.getfitfoods.com/grapple\_story.html](http://www.getfitfoods.com/grapple_story.html) Correction, it’s a Fuji apple that’s been soaked in artificial flavor and fatty acids. Scroll down for the ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/5 "2004-11-09T00:02:40Z")
Fatty acids are just the final breakdown product of fats. Nothing very sinister about them. And Grapples are excellent. They were at the supermarket here for a very short time. I wish they would come back. ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/6 "2004-11-10T16:28:54Z")
You _liked_ them?! We bought some down at the local Wegman’s recently. They were $4 for a pack of 4 apples. That’s a buck a fruit… Strike one. Next, the packaging makes them sound like some kind of genetically-engineered wonderfruit, but they’re really just apples with artificial flavoring sprayed on. We’re not talking real grape here, we’re talking artificial “purple-is-a-fruit” grape, like they use to make grape popsicles. Strike two… Third, I washed the Grapple before eating it. Bad idea; it rinses all the grape flavoring right off. So in the end, I paid a dollar for a Fuji apple. Bah. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/7 "2004-11-10T16:41:15Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Fatty acids are just the final breakdown product of fats. Nothing very sinister about them. I wasn’t portraying them as sinister, I was pointing out that Grapples are not Fuji apples soaked in _grape juice_, contrary to **yabob’s** information. Any idea what the fatty acids in the ingredients are for? Mouth feel? Satiety? Getting the artificial flavor to stick better? It’s listed specifically as “fatty acids,” not “fats”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/8 "2004-11-10T17:50:52Z")
Lots of fruit that Wegman’s sells goes for a dollar each. I often try to imagine my parents (now long dead) looking at a piece of fruit and wondering how it could possibly be worth a dollar. Of course, prices today are about 50 times those in the Depression, so it’s really a 2 cent fruit, but still. And hey, $1.00 each is better than the $1.25 each that the OP paid. They came shrinkwrapped, so why bother washing them? Besides, the flavor went all the way through the pulp. And **WhyNot** , I’m so used to people mentioning “chemicals” with horror, that I just made an assumption. Without knowing anything about the process or the fatty acids used, I can only think that your guesses are good ones. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-apple-grapple/273740/9 "2004-11-10T17:57:59Z")
Huh. I’m in the “heart of the world’s finest apple country” and haven’t seen them yet. I’d probably try one but they don’t sound very exciting. (I guess they need to think of _something_ to do with surplus apples here.) Now if they engineered purple apples, I’d be thrilled. 🙂