Fruitenstein
On impulse at the supermarket, Younger Girl and I picked up a four-pack of Graples. Pronounced grape-ells. The package advertised that they looked like apples (which indeed they did) and tasted like grapes.
In fact, when you cut into them, they are structurally like apples, but have a strong concord grape perfume. The taste is applish, but with a lingering grape overtone (yes, I know I sound like a pretentious wine critic, but there's really no other way to explain it). They are very pleasing. Of course, when I consider the probable sinister origins of this fruit, it makes me wonder whether I will wake up next week with one leg shorter than the other, all for eating Graples. In search of knowledge, I Googled the name, and came up with one mention of the fruit itself, and many instances where the word "grapples" had been misspelled. "They grapled for the gun" takes on a whole new meaning when one has tried this fruit.
In fact, when you cut into them, they are structurally like apples, but have a strong concord grape perfume. The taste is applish, but with a lingering grape overtone (yes, I know I sound like a pretentious wine critic, but there's really no other way to explain it). They are very pleasing. Of course, when I consider the probable sinister origins of this fruit, it makes me wonder whether I will wake up next week with one leg shorter than the other, all for eating Graples. In search of knowledge, I Googled the name, and came up with one mention of the fruit itself, and many instances where the word "grapples" had been misspelled. "They grapled for the gun" takes on a whole new meaning when one has tried this fruit.
posted by Madeleine Robins at 5:05 PM
3 Comments:
AddendumI finally found their website (www.grapplefruits.com) which explains the whole thing.
So simply put, how do Grāpple™ brand apples get their flavor? Fuji apples are dipped into a combination of pure water and Concord grape flavoring for a short time. They are then moved into cold storage for few days while the flavor takes hold. After which they are packed and shipped out to grocery stores. So they're not genetically modified or particularly sinister. It's still an odd experience, eating an apple that smacks, literally, of something else.
So it's basically a caramel apple, but with grape?
I like the fancy phrasing, "a combination of pure water and Concord grape flavoring." I.e., grape juice?
There's no coloration, so it's not that they soaked it with grape juice. I'd say, more like they soaked it in a solution of colorless grape extract in water.
Such a strange fruit.
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