I decided to look up grapes today and I learned a lot about them I didn't know.

Would you believe me if I told you there are hundereds of grape varieties ? I thought there were maybe a dozen types at most.

Did you know that white grapes are actually green grapes, and that white/green grapes are mutant red grapes with mutated anthocyanin producing genes ?
Anthocyanins are flavonoids, and flavonoids have been found to be good when it comes to preventing cancer and heart disease.

I couldn't help but wonder if "flavonoids" had something to do with "flavor" and whether that genetic mutation has something to do with why green/white grapes always taste bitter to me.

I'm a big fan of red grapes. I usually get seedless red grapes, but today I accidently grabbed some half-dollar sized red grapes from Chile with seeds in them. I think I will stick with those from now on since I found a way to eat them where the seeds aren't such an annoyance and I think these giant grapes just seem like they're in better condition than smaller grapes are. They're plump and juicy, I've yet to find one with a soft spot.

In the United States, approximately 98 percent of commercially grown table grapes are from California. I'll stick with my Chile grapes.

What I do is bite just a little above the middle of the grape with the point of rupture in my mouth. Nine out of ten times I will bite that top part off without getting a seed on my mouth because the seeds are teardrop shaped with the small ends up and my teeth just slide over them.
Once I've swallowed that top part I can easily and quickly scoop the seeds out of the bottom with my front teeth and spit them out without wasting any of the grape.
Then, I have half of a grape left that's still as big as a normal table grape but is always plump and sweet.

The top four most abundant vitamins and minerals generally in grapes, in order of highest to lowest percentage of daily values from three and a half ounces of grapes are

1. Vitamin C 10.8 mg 18%
2. Vitamin B6 0.086 mg 7%
3. Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.069 mg 5%
4. Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.07 mg 5%

The growth cycle of grapes is kinda neat. Grape vines were one of the many things my grandparents had growing in their yard and I remember just about every year I would ask why the vines looked dead. I didn't like their grapes though, they were green/white and always tasted very bitter.

Thanks for all of this information about grapes!

I'm going to have to try some red grapes. I'm not sure I've ever had red grapes. I know I've had green grapes a lot, but never the red ones.

What about purple grapes? Are those the same as red grapes?... Maybe purple grapes are red grapes as they get riper?

The various shades of red/purple in red grapes are controlled by the same genes which can be mutated to produce green/white grapes. Polyphenols, which are the parent group of the genes mentioned earlier.

I used to pick grapes off the vines (for rotten pay) when I was a sophomore in high school (1968 ), over in Eastern Washington, in Grandview!! It was a very hard job. You had to use this little knife to cut the vine, and it was a tuff vine to cut!! Guess it has to be tuff to hold all the clusters of grapes on it. My hand got sooooo tired, it hurt awful that night. That job didn't last long for us teenage girls. Man size hands handle that job better. I wonder if they still harvest the grapes like that or have a machine now to do it.

Anyway, this picture looks like the grapes we cut, and they look like they would be for wine...but I'm not sure. We ate while we picked, and they were really tasty grapes.

Apparently both. Here's a video of a machine doing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muijEcP9_ZE

I'm guessing wine/jam/jelly and other "mashable" grapes are done by machine and the ones in the produce section at the grocery store are hand-harvested so they don't get bruised.

Well I'll be dog gone!!! I bet there are little people inside that machine cutting like crazy maniacs!! That bush didn't even get damaged... how the heck does that machine do that??

Look at all the jobs lost!! Mostly winos', I suppose, well, back then anyway. The winos' would work during the day doing grapes, apples, pears, or whatever.... and at night... drink all their money up guzzling cheap wine, and pass out in an alley somewhere. They usually always made it to work the next day, though.

Some day everything will be hydro/aero-ponicly grown and the only people who need to touch it will be the ones eating it.

I actually had a strange dream where I was walking though an air-conditioned grape vine garden a few weeks ago.

Whoa...that IS real strange, especially not knowing that you were going to be talking about grapes and all in a health forum a few weeks later after the dream.

Air conditioned grape vine garden....hummmm... do you wonder what that means, and why you had that dream??

That part of the dream was a sort of sidetrack from the rest of the dream. I have a lot of strange dreams where the main theme seems to be me alone and running away from something that have little pitstops like the airconditioned grape garden.

I assume the indoor grape garden has something to do with a facination I've had with hydro/aero-ponics for years.

I like to eat grapes... have you ever put them in the freezer and froze them? That makes for a great snack after or during a long hot day!

I was actually going to try freezing the last grapes I got after I saw someone mention doing that here, but since I got grapes with seeds in them I don't think freezing them is such a good idea this time.

I freeze cherries, and they are really yummy frozen. Tastes like a cherry slushy when you eat them. Also, cherries don't last long on the cupboard, you have to eat them up so fast so they won't spoil, and freezing them you can eat them all at a reasonable pace without having to throw any away. Good idea when they cost so much.

So next time I get grapes, which I love, I will try freezing them. Nothing worse than paying the price of luscious fruit and having to throw it away because you couldn't eat them up fast enough.

Oh, and I have froze cherries that had seeds in them, and it was no problem spitting the seeds out. So it seems like the grapes with seeds would be ok too, to freeze, maybe.

Another yummy fruit to freeze is mandarins, in the can. Pour the liquid out and put the mandarins in a container with a lid. Take out a few at a time, and enjoy.