Muscadine – The Original American Grape

From Scuppernong Wine to Antioxidant Super Food!

Sep 19, 2009
Maria Blanco

Wild Scuppernong, Muscadine Grape Vines - Pollinator

New research on the Muscadine grape, Vitis rotundifolia, shows great promise in its ability to provide many health benefits, making it a newly discovered super-food!

The vines grew as wild and unfettered as the vast New World through which they rambled. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote of them, "on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as on the plains, as well as on every little shrub...climbing towards the tops of tall cedars...in all the world the like abundance is not to be found." His men reported that the Carolinian coast where they disembarked in 1584 was, "so full of grapes as the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them."

Muscadine Grapes – Vitis rotundifolia

These early English explorers were describing muscadine grapes, Vitis rotundifolia, discovered as they arrived on what is presently the coast of North Carolina.

In the early 1800s, Thomas Jefferson noted that North Carolina’s muscadine, "wine would be distinguished on the best tables in Europe, for its fine aroma, and crystalline transparence." In 1840 the Federal Census named North Carolina as being the top wine producer in the United States; which it remained until the dawn of Prohibition.

An Old Muscadine Wine Recipe

Ingredients:

Muscadine grapes
Water
Sugar

Instructions:

Wash the Muscadine in cool water.
Place the fruit in a large stock pot and add enough water to cover the grapes by about one inch.
Bring the pot up to a boil and allow it to continue boiling for ten minutes.
Remove the pot from the fire and allow the contents to cool.
Using cheesecloth, strain the pot contents into another container; allowing it to drain overnight.
Measuring one gallon of the strained juice to three pounds of sugar; pour the juice and sugar into a large crock.
Stir the mixture well and cover the crock with clean cloth.

According to the recipe, the muscadine wine will be done in 21 to 24 days, depending on the air temperature. It says to decant the wine into sturdy bottles or canning jars, but leave caps loose for three days. Then, tighten the caps and store the wine in a cool, dark place.

Finding and Using Muscadine Grapes

The same bronze to purplish-black fruit that so amazed the early explorers and founders grows profusely throughout the southeastern United States even today, and is still highly prized in many locales for its unique flavor and its versatility. But, Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes and their products are also becoming more widely available to the public at large.

Look for a variety of Muscadine wine, jelly, syrups, preserves, sauces and breads from specialty retailers and online, too. Demand for these choice grapes has so increased that they are now emerging as a serious cash crop. There is, however, much more exciting news about muscadine than new wines, pies, jams and juices.

Scuppernong Grapes, Muscadines, in Scientific Research

In June of 2007 ARS researchers published a project, Small Fruit Cultural and Genetic Research for the Mid-South, describing how, “the muscadine grape…contains several phenolic compounds that act as antioxidants and also other compounds, such as resveratrol, that can perform as a chemopreventative. The concentrations of these compounds…equal or exceed that known for other small fruit.”

Additionally, in research jointly funded by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Mississippi State University (MSU), nutritionist Betty Ector stated that they found powdered muscadine puree to have more dietary fiber than oat and rice bran, “and we know that high fiber consumption lowers blood pressure, serum triglycerides [and] cholesterol levels. It also protects against coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases, and colon cancer. Soluble fiber has extra benefits for diabetics by delaying glucose absorption and increasing the sensitivity of skeletal muscles to insulin."

Muscadine – A Natural Healthy Food Additive

It seems there are big plans for the muscadine grape’s future. Ector says that muscadine is even being tried as an additive to beef patties containing 15 – 20% fat. Eating muscadine products is an easy way to get significant amounts of resveratrol and ellagic acid (another natural cancer inhibitor) into the diet, and they taste great too!