It all started last night when I went to the fridge and saw that my wife had purchased some green grapes. I love green grapes, but when I popped a few of them in my mouth, they were slightly bitter and somewhat disappointing, as usual. Then it ocurred to me that I haven’t had nice, large, juicy, succulent, sweet, and non bitter green grapes in quite a long time, possibly years. Granted, we usually shop at the large food chains, e.g., Acme, Pathmark, Shoprite, etc., and their grapes tend to all be the same.
Now, I understand that grapes come in a number of varieties, and perhaps the stores we shop carry only one, but where can I go to find either a better crop or a more popular, and better tasting variety of green grape?
I haven’t seen Thompson seedless grapes anywhere in a long time. Stores sell “green” or “white” (actually green) grapes all the time. Definitely sour little buggers. Really miss the juicy, sweet, big fat grapes.
And we shop at an “international farmers market” for most of our fresh foods. They can bring in pears from Korea, but not Thompson seedless grapes from California.
And don’t get me started on what they call “watermelons” most of the time. Nasty, chemical tasting things.
More variety, less quality seems to be the motto of grocery stores of all ilks.
They are at my local produce store here in San Francisco. Of course, they are so expensive that the clerk always says, “Are you sure you want these?” and tells me the price before selling them to me. But they are good.
I’m not sure about New Jersey, but have you tried Whole Foods or Trade Joes? They might have a higher grade of grapes.
I might not have high standards, but I’ve been buying perfectly good grapes from Safeway here in Tucson. Both red and green grapes. In fact, I’m enjoying them now. They’re a nice size, firm and plump, and have a sweet grape-y taste. And the best part was they were on sale for 79¢ a pound, so I stocked up on them.
Try a store that sources locally, or an organic store that ships in good stuff from all around. I have a tiny little organic store on my block that sources locally whenever possible, but does ship stuff in from all over the US and Mexico to round out selection, and moreso in winter.
My favorite are the purple seedless ones with thin but very taught skins that “pop” when you bite into them. I call them crispy grapes. Sweet like candy. The watermelons are darned good, too. I’ve found the watermelon at the local farmer’s markets are only a little bigger than other melons like honeydews. They’re maybe, what, 4-5 pounds, tops. Those taste wonderful, not at all like those giant grocery store things.
A lot of times these mass-produced fruits and vegetables are bred for qualities such as “less likely to bruise during shipping” at the expense of flavor, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it is indeed true that current day grapes don’t taste like they used to. I think looking for fruit at farmer’s markets or markets that carry a large selection of heirloom veggies/fruit would probably be more likely to yield the better tasting varieties.
I wonder if you mean the round, red Flame grapes that I like so much? They’re a purpley color and they’re awesome! I hadn’t seen any in the longest time until I happened to spot them at Aldi’s a few weeks ago. Two pounds for $2.99. I ate almost all them myself. I had a little help from my guinea pig. They had the Thompson’s green grapes the same way but I didn’t try those.
