Image:Ripe grapes.jpg

Sweet, juicy grapes, picked at the peak of ripeness, are one of nature's best-tasting treats. In

vineyards, greenhouses, and laboratories, ARS scientists seek to bring even better grapes to your 
shopping cart tomorrow.
The ARS laboratory that developed America's most popular red seedless grape, Flame Seedless, has also 
offered nurseries and breeders a delicious new black seedless grape. Called Black Emerald, the 
newcomer is a sweet grape with berries about the size of a dime. The flesh is translucent, firm, and 
almost crisp.
Also watch the supermarket for Autumn Seedless, a light-green grape that became available to nurseries 
and growers in 1984. It is ready for harvest about 2 weeks before Thompson Seedless.
Of course, all grapes need to be properly handled. ARS studies of packaging have shown that boxes with 
a shrink-wrap covering offer the best insurance against loss to disease, weight loss, and shatter 
(grapes' tendency to drop off the stem). Plastic dome-lid boxes with vent holes are also protective. 
Net bags, for years considered the preferred packaging, proved the least safeguard of all.
From the East Coast to the vineyards of the Far West, grapes are a growing success story. And, since 
two ARS gene banks, in Geneva, New York, and Davis, California, are living treasure troves of grape 
varieties, we expect more juicy developments ahead.

USDA photo by Scott Bauer. Image Number K7248-56.

This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.

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