Incredible Ingredients…Grapes By Nathalie Kyrou

This weekend Limassol celebrates the start of the island’s annual wine festival. For years, wine has taken the spotlight, but what about the grapes?

The ripening of the grape at this time of year marks the start of the wine season, with a staggering 71 per cent of world grape production used for wine. The grape fruit grows on woody vines. Most grapes come from European grapevines native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Growing in clusters of six to 300, grapes can be a variety of colours, from crimson, red, black, dark blue, yellow, green or pink. What we refer to as white grapes are actually green in color, and are evolutionarily derived from the red grape (due to mutations that turn off production of the product responsible for the color of red grapes).

Dried variety of grapes also exist: raisins, currants, and sultanas. But what is the difference between the three? A raisin is any dried grape, a currant (not to be confused with black or redcurrants) is a dried zante grape, and a sultana was originally a raisin made from a specific type of grape of Turkish origin, but the word is now applied to raisins made from common grapes and chemically treated to resemble the traditional sultana.

Sweet and succulent, grapes can be eaten raw or used for making a variety of edible substances as well as wine, like jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, grape seed extracts and grape seed oil. Seedless grapes are highly desirable and are now the most consumed table grape variety, however health claims suggest that improving the eating quality of grapes by removing their seeds results in the loss of potential health benefits provided by the enriched phytochemical content of the seeds.

Grapes, especially red ones, are so full of antioxidants and health-boosting chemicals that they, along with red wine, have been known to inhibit cancer, heart and nerve disease, infections, as well as the ageing process. So, next time you’re sipping away on that red wine, thank the grape phytochemical resveratrol for giving you a valid excuse to pour yourself another glass!

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