Scuppernong Grapes: One of my Favorite Fall Fruits | A Guide to Growing Muscadine Grapes

all right Growers this is Ross today we are looking at muscadine grapes or some of you guys may call them scuppernong grapes I guess it depends on where you live where you're from uh these are grapes that are technically a different species than the table grapes that we're used to at the grocery store and I know a lot of you guys in the South that get scuppered on grapes probably have them growing wild maybe you've been eating them since you were a kid and these are more common to you than actually table grap are but for most people in the country um scuppernongs are not very popular because they have large seeds in them not only that but the seeds actually are bitter and astringent so even if you were to eat the seeds uh you wouldn't enjoy it and fact in fact to me it's like kind of chewing on Nova cane like it's really not something you want to do what is nice about them though is that I find that they're enjoyable to eat you take a bite and they're slip skin meaning that the p comes away from the skin and you can easily discern the flavors between the pulp and the skin um then what you have to do is with your tongue you actually have to remove the seeds from the pulp it's actually quite easy once they're ripe the seeds are quite large as well and so when you I'll just do it for you and there it is I spit out the seeds I swallowed the PT really quickly and then now I'm chewing on the skin and some people spit out the skin some people eat the seeds you know I don't really recommend eating the seeds but for me the skin is actually where all the flavor is it has acidity some tannins in it and if you eat enough of these back to back especially the um the purple variety here I have called Lane this bronze variety here is called Triumph but Lane produced about two or 3 weeks earlier than Triumph so I've already harvested all of these but to me these have more of that acidity and more complexity to them in their skin I really enjoy them actually more than the bronze varieties now is every bronze variety created equal no is every purple skin variety credit equal no um I'd be curious to taste more varieties and find out I also would like to have a variety that ripens at a different part of the Season maybe if I can get some muscadines earlier that'd be great um it is October 21st here in the Philadelphia area we're in zone 7A and so that's the problem with um muskin if you go further north is that they're actually not that Hardy um you know some of the labrusca and benifer grapes can go well below zero whereas these muskin on average most of them can't really get below zero they'll die back and then resprout uh from The Roots but these two varieties here are doing really well Lane and Triumph as I said and they're proven at this point it's really windy here in the Philadelphia area we're we're so late in the season now as I said that it's actually really nice to have such great fruit this late in the season we're technically maybe even a week or two away from our first Frost so to have really nice fruit like this this late in the season I don't think to me I could have a fall season anymore without these grapes uh that's what I like about them you know I would love to have another variety that is hearty also self fertile like these are you know these get down to -10 okay but also you know I want to have some that Harvest at different times I would I maybe have one that Harvest maybe two weeks from now or maybe two weeks before uh the purple variety Lane that I have uh to me I think they're just such a special treat at this time of the year and I'm sure a lot of you guys are familiar with them if you're not uh to me the contrast between the table grapes that I said that we're used to and these it's it is a nice contrast they are very good they're very sweet they have good complexity to them to me I think you must grow them especially if you're in a more humid area of the country this is what's so special as well about these Vines and this species of grape is that the the leaves are basically virus disease free uh the fruits are disease free uh I struggle with so many diseases on these grapes behind me here you'll see a Mars Vine that I have it almost looks like there's nothing there because the leaves just get so affected as the season goes on the difference here between the muskin is is clear so uh for me you know I even learned lessons about pruning them and I'll probably put out a separate video on pruning these guys especially in the form of spur pruning them for me I think that works out the best and uh yeah grow some scupp on grapes grow some musk Ires whatever you want want to call them they're really special this was like 2 and2 lb Harvest here in total of between two Vines probably harvested 8 lbs this year thanks for watching guys hit the Subscribe button hit that like button I'll see you for the next one all right take care