No. 177 - Scuppernong

While traveling in the car today, my son really had to use a restroom. A few miles later we saw banners advertising a farm market, and they highlighted that there were restrooms available. So we stopped.

This was certainly one of the nicest farm markets I've ever been to with all sorts of really fresh-looking fruits and vegetables, even wines and ciders. After using the restroom, we headed back to check out the ciders. There was peach and blackberry and scuppernong. 

Scuppernong? 

I had never heard of that one. In front of each cider, there was a thermos with some chilled product to sample. My son and I tasted the scuppernong. It was really good. I asked him if he liked it. He said yes. I asked if we should get the small or large jug. He chose the large one. We also picked up some really plump and juicy green grapes and a sack of salted peanuts.

I asked a lady at the checkout what scuppernong was. She said it was a grape with a really tough skin that you would typically not eat, but instead squeeze out and eat the inside of the grape and discard the skin.

I later learned that scuppernong is native to the southeastern United States and is a very unusual grape. It grows in clusters, rather than in bunches, and its fruit resemble small plums, more so than grapes.  The name comes from the Scuppernong River in North Carolina where it's also the state fruit.