Cotton Candy is the trademark for a variety of sweet white
table grapes of the cultivar IFG Seven whose flavour has been compared to
cotton candy. The grapes were developed by
horticulturist David Cain and his team at
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of th ...
-based fruit breeder
International Fruit Genetics (IFG).
The grapes were first commercially grown in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
by grower Grapery, which began selling them in 2011.
Development
David Cain was a fruit geneticist and former
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...
researcher who co-founded IFG in Bakersfield in 2001.
A few months after forming the company, he attended a trade show where researchers from the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...
were showing grapes. One was a purple
Concord grape that tasted sweet like cotton candy, but was fragile with tiny seeds. He licensed that grape and began working to improve the size and texture by crossbreeding the grapes with sturdier California grapes.
He
hand pollinated to
cross pollinate millions of grapes to combine the sweet Concord grapes with
common grapes in order to make them firmer.
Pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
from male grape flowers was extracted and brushed onto the female clusters of the target plant. Over twelve years, a hundred thousand plants were created and grown in test tubes before developing the Cotton Candy variety of grape. In 2010, IFG patented the grape and began licensing it to growers, including California grower Grapery.
[ Grapery was founded in 1996 by Jack Pandol, a ]UC Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...
plant scientist graduate and third generation grape grower, and was co-owned by fellow grower Jim Beagle.
Description
Cotton Candy grapes measure between 19 and 20 degrees Brix, a measurement of a fruit's sweetness; most grapes measure between 17 and 18 Brix. According to Jim Beagle, the CEO of Grapery, this makes them "probably sweeter than the average grape, but within the range of sweetness." Weighing in at about of sugar per of grapes, the cotton candy grapes have about more sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
per than regular table grapes. The grapes have a flavor similar to cotton candy, though no artificial flavoring is added.
Production and distribution
In addition to California, growers also grow the grapes in Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, and Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.[ Retailers include ]Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California, with 597 locations across the US.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. In 1979, the chain was s ...
, Metro Market, Sam's Club, Aldi, Wegmans, and Whole Foods.[
, the company's grapes were being sold in 14 countries.][
]
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Breeder
Distributor
History
Patent information
Trademark information
Table grape varieties