DCentric

Ephemerama

Sweet, sweet, patriotic scuppernongs

I saw them at Whole Foods and muttered, “Scupper-WHA?” then moved on; if I’m going to over-spend on fruit, I’m going to be true to my brown roots and get some mango. Mmmm, mango.  Back to scupper-whats: I was born and raised in California, so perhaps I can be excused for being ignorant of this type of Vitis rotundifolia, which is found in Virginia and the Carolinas. Until I started researching this post, I didn’t know that it was the first variety of grape ever cultivated in this country!

Amanda at Metrocurean has more– she’s been enjoying them since childhood:

If you haven’t had the pleasure of acquainting yourself with the honey-sweet grape variety native to the Southeast, allow me to introduce you.

The bronze or green fruit, larger than a typical grape, has a tough skin that you bite open to release the fragrant jelly-like orb and its sugary juices inside. The odd name reportedly comes from a river in North Carolina. Down South, scuppernongs and their muscadine cousins are typically turned into sweet wine or jam. That is, if they’re not eaten straight off the vine.

Also at that Metrocurean link? Amanda’s recipe for a Scuppernong Crush cocktail. After you make one, delight yourself with this bit of Scupper-trivia I found via Wiki:

The oldest cultivated grapevine in the world is the 400 year old scuppernong “Mother Vine” growing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

Now I wish I had bought some!