# Grape Flavour? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678 "2008-09-08T21:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/21 "2008-09-09T08:37:53Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I hate those white, generic, grape flavored jellybeans that they put in the cheap Easter mix. It’s like a double whammy… the white tells you maybe black licorice, or even mint and you brace yourself…instead it’s the sickly sweet purple monster. > > (You see, that’s a weird flavor-color combo there that corporate did to us, anybody else relate white to the black licorice flavor (anise)? Blame it on the food chemists.) I’ve had coconut flavored white jelly beans. Those are always a treat! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/22 "2008-09-09T08:53:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Black/red/whitecurrants and gooseberries are all species of _[Ribes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribes)_. There are species native to North America - I’m not sure if their comparative lack of popularity in the US is more to do with aesthetics, chance, the availability of other fruits or what. :smack: And now I understand where [Ribena](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribena) got its name from. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/23 "2008-09-09T09:29:00Z")
Gooseberries from the garden and Metaxa Greek Brandy macerated for a couple of weeks together, go well over vanilla ice cream. That’s all I got to say. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/24 "2008-09-09T10:24:42Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > You don’t find black current anything in the stores. You can find red current jellies and red currents by the dried fruit. That’s about it, unless you look at a specialty wine. My first and only experience with blackcurrant anything in the US was a black currant sauce or coulee that was nominally available to better kitchens in the late 80’s, 90’s. It wasn’t a bad product, but it wasn’t great… I’d choose a fresh blueberry coulee over a jarred, black currant coulee any day. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/25 "2008-09-09T10:50:39Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > My first and only experience with blackcurrant anything in the US was a black currant sauce or **coulee** that was nominally available to better kitchens in the late 80’s, 90’s. It wasn’t a bad product, but it wasn’t great… I’d choose a fresh blueberry **coulee** over a jarred, black currant **coulee** any day. That’s “coulis”. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/26 "2008-09-09T11:44:05Z")
And as is so often the case in many of these international relations and misunderstandings, the culprit is White Pine Blister Rust. We need to build ships, damn you! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/27 "2008-09-09T11:57:20Z")
I just popped in to ask why anyone would eat saltwater taffy of any flavour. It is rotten. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/28 "2008-09-09T12:12:34Z")
I _wish_ the default flavor were blackcurrant. I don’t even know what that tastes like, but I’m sure it’s better than artificial grape flavor. Reminds me of medicine I took as a child. That ruined cherry flavor for me too. I love cherries. Grapes are good. Even concord grapes, which I’ve made a tasty jam from. But damn, grape or cherry-flavored candy is hard for me to swallow. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/29 "2008-09-09T12:44:44Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I just popped in to ask why anyone would eat saltwater taffy of any flavour. It is rotten. I like the peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/30 "2008-09-09T13:00:43Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I _wish_ the default flavor were blackcurrant. I don’t even know what that tastes like, but I’m sure it’s better than artificial grape flavor. Reminds me of medicine I took as a child. That ruined cherry flavor for me too. > > I love cherries. Grapes are good. Even concord grapes, which I’ve made a tasty jam from. But damn, grape or cherry-flavored candy is hard for me to swallow. I love a Cherry Luden’s. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/31 "2008-09-09T13:06:31Z")
I know a couple reason I don’t use gooseberries. They taste good and I’d use them if they were usable. The gooseberries in the wild are mostly ruined by a worm in the berry. The ones that are not ruined are so few I can only get maybe 10 berries at any time. I can’t make even a small batch of anything with that quantity. Many areas have only the spiny gooseberries growing there, and they are not worth touching. It’s like trying to pick and eat a sandbur. Raspberry is a favorite candy flavor in the the USA. Most people eat the raspberry tootsie pops first and the grape ones are the last ones. They were last until they started messing with the flavors. Nobody in our family will eat those awful watermelon suckers they started putting in the bag. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/32 "2008-09-09T13:07:14Z")
I’m not sure about the rest of the US, but here in the Midwest, specifically central/southern Illinois, we grew up eating gooseberries right off the bush, or eating those that survived in pie. Stupid prickly bushy things, but we had lots of them. Maybe because it was a German Mennonite settlement. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/33 "2008-09-09T13:32:40Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Raspberry is a favorite candy flavor in the the USA. Most people eat the raspberry tootsie pops first and the grape ones are the last ones. They were last until they started messing with the flavors. Nobody in our family will eat those awful watermelon suckers they started putting in the bag. Ahh, yes…“Blue Raspberry Tootsie Pops” are also an entirely unnatural and very popular flavor in the US. That’s a lolli with rasberry rock, deep blue color, with a cocoa taffy (carmael) center (Just as there is no sex in the Champagne Room, there is no chocolate in Tootsie Rolls) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/34 "2008-09-09T13:39:05Z")
Hey guys listen up- I know the secret to artificial grape flavor! So I moved to China, and in China they eat these big old grapes (may well be concord- who knows). And the trick is, people peel them. So one day I pop one in my mouth, and the first thing I say is “Wow, this is where grape flavor comes from!” Grape flavor is the flavor of peeled grapes. Without the skins, there is less of the sour/bitter flavor and the sweet grape flavor comes through. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/35 "2008-09-09T13:48:52Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not sure about the rest of the US, but here in the Midwest, specifically central/southern Illinois, we grew up eating gooseberries right off the bush, or eating those that survived in pie. Stupid prickly bushy things, but we had lots of them. Maybe because it was a German Mennonite settlement. I grew up eating gooseberries off the bushes in our yard, in New Jersey. we never had enough to make a pie or anything, though. > [@](#): > > Ahh, yes…“Blue Raspberry Tootsie Pops” are also an entirely unnatural and very popular flavor in the US. That’s a lolli with rasberry rock, deep blue color, with a cocoa taffy (carmael) center (Just as there is no sex in the Champagne Room, there is no chocolate in Tootsie Rolls) Blue Raspberry goes back at least to the 1960s – I clearly recall the “Sky Blue” popsicles sold by the Carbival ice cream vans (our local competitor to Good Humor). They were very blue but tasted like raspberry. I think that blue got associated with raspeberry because there wrere already plenty of confusing pink and red flavors (cherry, strawberry, raspberry, watermelon), but nothing in blue, so that perfectly good blue food coloring, which could be used to differentiate another flavor, was going to waste. As regards Tootsie Rolls, by the way, they DO contain Cocoa Powder, so saying they don’t contain chocolate isn’t really correct. Check out the ingredients: [http://www.nutsonline.com/chocolatessweets/old-time-candies/tootsie-roll-minis.html](http://www.nutsonline.com/chocolatessweets/old-time-candies/tootsie-roll-minis.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/36 "2008-09-09T13:53:36Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > And as is so often the case in many of these international relations and misunderstandings, the culprit is White Pine Blister Rust. > > We need to build ships, damn you! Argh! You beat me to it! I was so excited because I knew the answer! ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/37 "2008-09-09T14:34:48Z")
After some research, I think I’ve been eating Kyosho grapes, which are indeed related to Concords. Anyway, they taste like grape flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/38 "2008-09-09T15:18:42Z")
I love grape flavor. Mmm. Grape soda. I always get the grape-flavored alcohol-free cough syrup for children. My wife thinks I’m insane. ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/39 "2008-09-09T15:31:04Z")
I love grape flavor, too. I’m surprised more kids aren’t addicted to grape flavored cold/cough medicine. It’s tastes great! I agree that it’s largely an American thing. During my first term studying at Oxford we had currant juice and jam for tea and I just about threw up. To me, it tastes like grape Kool-Aid but without any sugar. Actually, take one unsweetened pack (it’s very small, it looks like a single serving for an 8 ounce glass (I’m not sure how man mL that is) and add water. That is a vile taste, as it’s supposed to be mixed with sugar in 2 quarts or water (.8L?) My Australian cousins think I’m insane to put peanut butter and grape jelly together. They also prefer vegemite. Who is insane now? ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678/40 "2008-09-09T15:50:34Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Hey guys listen up- I know the secret to artificial grape flavor! > > So I moved to China, and in China they eat these big old grapes (may well be concord- who knows). And the trick is, people peel them. So one day I pop one in my mouth, and the first thing I say is “Wow, this is where grape flavor comes from!” > > Grape flavor is the flavor of peeled grapes. Without the skins, there is less of the sour/bitter flavor and the sweet grape flavor comes through. I had a very similar taste experience last summer. We were picking my friend’s concords and probably eating about a quarter of what we picked until we got too sick of them. After a while, the intensity of the skins got to be too much for me, so I tried peeling them. Bingo: Grape flavor. Without the skins, concord grapes are exactly like squishy little grape flavored candies. It was amazing how spot on the artificial flavor is under those conditions, actually. Sadly, that friend is an idiot and took the advice of pruning his grape vines to revitalize them a little too far. He chopped off about two thirds from each of his vines and then complained about how he didn’t get any grapes this year. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grape-flavour/462678.md?page=3)