How Do Cotton Candy Grapes Get Their Sweet Flavor?
NEWS
By CHLOE O'DONNELL
First launched in 2011, Cotton Candy grapes offer a burst of sweet flavor that tastes almost exactly like cotton candy. However, these grapes don't contain any artificial flavors.
These grapes were developed by horticulturalist David Cain and his colleagues, who shortlisted features they liked in certain grape species and mixed those genes into their plants.
Cotton Candy grapes are a hybrid of several grape species, including Vitis vinifera and a kind akin to Concord grapes. The process of combining the grapes can take up to 15 years.
Concord grapes are rich and flavorful but also very mushy and full of seeds, and Vitis vinifera is your usual table grape. Cotton candy grapes combine the best traits of the two.
Capturing the former’s sweetness and the latter’s crunch, Cotton Candy grapes feature a hint of vanilla, almost no sourness, all the usual nutrients, and some extra natural sugar.
