For the past few weeks, a cotton candy-flavored grape has been all the rage on social media and in stores. But where does it come from?
“Cotton Candy” has been all the rage on social media for several weeks. This grape that reproduces the sweet taste of cotton candy has been tested by many Internet users during Instagram and TikTok videos. And very quickly, the phenomenon also spread to supermarkets.
A good alternative to sweets
At the Grand Frais store in Vélizy-Villacoublay, for example, around 400 trays of “Cotton Candy” are sold every day at 7 euros per kilo.
“This grape is 12% sweeter than the usual table grape,” Karine de la Rouere explained to BFMTV, while pointing out that it is still a very good alternative to sweets or cotton candy.
The sweet, cotton candy-like taste seems confusing, to the point of casting doubt on the “natural” process required to produce this grape.
A GMO-free variety
This variety of white grape is not genetically modified but the result of a work of crossing grape varieties discovered by the American geneticist and horticulturist David Cain at International Fruit Genetics in California. The former researcher at the United States Chamber of Agriculture (USDA) realized that the “Concord”, a blue-black grape variety cultivated in the eastern United States, had a light taste of cotton candy.
In 2001, he decided to combine this grape variety with more common grapes by pollinating the plants by hand. Another particularity: to ensure that there are no seeds, specific hormones are used as part of the reproduction process. Cotton Candy was then patented in 2010 and the license is gradually being rolled out to several producers around the world.
