13 Different Types of Grapes with Images
Grapes are actually berries in the botanical world and they are from the deciduous woody trailing shrubs of the flowering plant genus Vitis. Different grape varieties have been used all over the world for different products and the most popular of them are wines.
But aside from making it into wine, you can also eat the grapes raw, turn them into a jam, juice, grape jelly, grape seed extract or dry them to produce raisins. It is believed that grape varieties have already existed 8000 years ago.
What Health Benefits Do Grapes Offer
Aside from its sweet and delicious taste when ripe, grapes are antioxidants. They contain several vitamins and minerals that are essential to build the body’s immune system. You can also get potassium from eating fresh grapes, which is a mineral essential to regulate the body fluids including the blood pressure.
Grapes are also low in calories and free from fats. That is why they are also used as a part of those people wanting to lose weight. Grapes also contain resveratrol, a natural plant compound that helps in burning body fats and help with losing weight.
The nutrients found in grapes may also help in protecting against cancer, eye health issues, cardiovascular disease, and treatment for other health conditions.
What are the 13 Different Types of Grapes
Grape species are generally categorized into two flesh colors, the red grapes and the white grapes. We also have the wine and the table grapes. These grapes are best turned into alcohol instead of being eaten fresh. The wine grape belongs to the red grape varieties, and they procure thicker skins with seeds on its flesh. These grapes are native in the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia.
Table grapes, on the other hand, are intended to be eaten fresh and raw. They are the types of grapes mostly found on tables as part of a meal. We also grape species under champagne grapes.
Their characteristics and usage differ from each other and that’s what we are going to tackle with the information below. Let us also check which of these grapes are available in the grocery store near you.
1. Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are part of the red wine grape varieties and one of the world’s most widely recognized grapes. You can see them being largely cultivated in parts of Canada’s Okanagan Valley to Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, but it originated in France.
Since Cabernet Sauvignon belongs to the red grapes, it obviously produces red wines that contain a higher level of tannins. The cabernet sauvignon also produces a dry tasting wine with black pepper and tobacco savory flavor.
Since Cabernet Sauvignon belongs to the red grapes, it obviously produces red wines that contain a higher level of tannins. The cabernet sauvignon also produces a dry tasting wine with black pepper and tobacco savory flavor.
2. Moon Balls
Moon balls grapes belong to the white grape family. This grape variety produces a large fruit with thick and bright green skin color. The white flesh is seeded, firm with sugary-sweet flavor.
These grapes are also grown only in South Africa, thus, making it hard to spot this grape variety on other markets around the world. This is created by Dole and the company hopes to introduce this type to other countries. The season where you can find moon balls in the country is from February to March.
3. Cotton Candy Grapes
Cotton candy is part of the sweet table grape variety developed by the team of horticulturist David Cain at Bakersfield, California. The cotton candy grapes are also from the white grape family, with green colored skins.
As the name suggests, cotton candy grapes taste like cotton candy. The flesh is sweet and juicy with a hint of vanilla flavor. Since cotton candy grapes have been developed at California-based fruit breeder International Fruit Genetics, you can find these types of grapes being cultivated in Central California from mid-August to late September.
4. Muscadine Grapes
Muscadine grapes might be the best tasting red grapes you can find in the market. With a scientific name of Vitis rotundifolia, muscadine grapes is native to the southeastern and south-central United States.
The clear flesh of muscadine grapes are rich and thick with an intensely sweet taste. Its outer skin color ranges from light bronze to pink to purple to black. Muscadine grapes have tough spicy skins that taste like plums.
5. Kyoho Grapes
Kyoho grapes are from the red grapes popular in East Asia. Kyoho grapes have a blackish-purple, or almost black fruit. The inner flesh contains large seeds, it is juicy with high sugar content and mild acidity.
Kyoho grapes contain an excellent amount of vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system and fights common diseases. Grape consumption of this grape variety should be at moderate pace since it contains a lot of sugar.
6. Riesling Grapes
Riesling Grapes are from the wine grape and white grape variety that originates in the Rhine region. Riesling grape fruit produces an aromatic scent with high acidity. Riesling grapes are mainly used to create dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling white wines that offer primary fruit aromas.
Riesling grapes grow best in areas with cooler temperatures and climates like Austria, Finger Lakes near New York City, Germany, and Canada. They are usually in season from August to September but those grapes used for ice wine are picked at early October.
7. Concord Grapes
Concord grapes are from the grape species of Vitis labrusca or fox grapes. This grape can be used as table grapes, wine grape and juice grapes. The fruit of the concord grapes have an easy slip skin, which means you can remove the skin from the flesh easily. The flesh itself is very aromatic with large seeds in it.
These grapes have a slightly tart, strong musky flavor and less sweeter when compared to the green-skinned and red grapes. If you are looking for ways on how to use the concord grapes, it is best to turn it into jams, jellies and fresh grape juice.
8. Flame Seedless
This vigorous, heavy-bearing table grape cultivar is a hybrid of Thompson Seedless, Cardinal, and several other Vitis vinifera cultivars. Flame seedless grape vines produce large clusters of medium-large fruits with red skin color and sweet-tasting flesh.
Growing season of the flame seedless is long and this grape variety should be harvested when it’s ripe since the grape fruit won’t ripen after harvest.
9. Pinot Noir
This red wine grape variety is well-known in the wine industry as it ranked the 10th spot as the most planted types of grapes in the world. Pinot noir is derived from the French words for pine and black.
The fruits of pinot noir grapes have thin skins with dark natural color. They are best to be turned into wines due to its rich fruit aroma similar to cherries, raspberries, and strawberries. They are also considered as champagne grapes.
10. Crimson Seedless
A close relative to the flame seedless, crimson seedless grapes is a red seedless table grape developed at the USDA Fruit Genetics and Breeding Research Unit by David Ramming and Ron Tarailo in Fresno, California.
The crimson seedless vines produces the slightly elongated seedless grapes with an attractive light-red skin color and could go from pink to dark pink-red. Its flesh has a balanced sweet taste.
11. Moon Drops
Moon drops are well-known for its unique shape and appearance. These grapes are developed by The Grapery company based in Bakersfield, California. Its elongated fruits have dark purple colors. While the seedless flesh has a firm, crunchy texture with a satisfying level of sweet grapey taste.
Moon drops season is from July to September and these grapes are mostly grown in Central California.
12. Thompson Seedless
Thompson seedless white grape variety has a white or pale green, oval and seedless flesh grape fruit that is also called sultanina or sultana. The grape vines where the fruits grow are supported by tendrils or modified branches to help them climb.
These grapes offer a crisp texture and sweet, mild-flavor which are popular in the US today. Thompson seedless grape is a good mid-season snack table grape since it is self pollinating.
13. Merlot
Merlot grape fruits are from the wine grape type. They are dark blue in color used as both a blending grape and varietal wines. Wines made from Merlot grapes also have a soft, aromatic fruity scent and sometimes, velvety and plummy accents.
Which Type of Grapes is For You
Now that you have information and ideas about the different types of grapes, you can now decide which one to grab. It really depends on your needs and where you are going to use them. If you are a fan of a go-to snack, table grape varieties are best to be consumed raw and fresh. While the wine grapes are best to be processed and fermented to make an alcohol.
