The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,000 years ago, and the fruit has been used as human food throughout its history. Eaten fresh or in dried form (asraisins,currants andsultanas), grapes also hold cultural significance in many parts of the world, particularly for their role inwinemaking. Other grape-derived products include various types ofjam,juice, vinegar and oil.
History
Grape producing countries in 2020
TheMiddle East is generally described as the homeland of grapes and the cultivation of this plant began there 6,000–8,000 years ago.[1][2]Yeast, one of the earliest domesticatedmicroorganisms, occurs naturally on the skins of grapes, leading to the discovery of alcoholic drinks such as wine. The earliestarcheological evidence for a dominant position of wine-making in human culture dates from 8,000 years ago inGeorgia.[3][4][5]
The oldest known winery, theAreni-1 winery, was found inArmenia and dates back to around 4000 BC.[6] By the 9th century AD, the city ofShiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. Thus it has been proposed thatSyrah red wine is named afterShiraz, a city in Persia where the grape was used to makeShirazi wine.[7]
Ancient Egyptianhieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancientGreeks,Cypriots,Phoenicians, andRomans growing purple grapes for eating and wine production.[8] The growing of grapes would later spread to other regions in Europe, North Africa, and eventually inNorth America.
In 2005, a team of archaeologists concluded thatChalcolithic wine jars discovered inCyprus in the 1930s dated back to 3500 BC, making them the oldest of their kind in the world.[9]Commandaria, a sweetdessert wine from Cyprus, is the oldest manufactured wine in the world with origins as far back as 2000 BC.[10]
In North America, native grapes belonging to various species of the genusVitis proliferate in the wild across the continent and were a part of the diet of manyNative Americans, but early European colonists considered them to be unsuitable for wine. In the 19th century,Ephraim Bull ofConcord, Massachusetts, cultivated seeds from wildVitis labrusca vines to create theConcord grape, which would become an important agricultural crop in the United States.[11]
Grapes are a type ofberry fruit that grow in clusters of 15 to 300. The berries appear within a 60 day period after fertilization first producingtartaric acid, then latermalic acid when theirflesh increases in reaction to the hormone ofethylene; these acids give slight sour tastes to the berries other than their sweetness.[14]: 2–3 When these young berries reach a ripening stage (calledvéraison from theFrench language), the berries change to darker colours, increase in size and produce sugars; thisvéraison period begins in August taking around about 45 days with normal conditions in the Northern Hemisphere.[14]: 3 Ripe grape berries are typically ellipsoid in shape resembling aprolate spheroid. Their flesh has 75-85% water content; the water is obtained from the plant xylem before ripening, the phloem supplies water with soluble sugarsglucose andfructose following the ripening stage.[14]: 4–5
Anthocyanins and otherpigment chemicals of the larger family ofpolyphenols in purple grapes are responsible for the varying shades of purple in the grape berries and red wines they produce.[15][16] Various grapes ripen can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. "White" grapes are actually green in color and are evolutionarily derived from the purple grape.Mutations in tworegulatory genes of white grapes turn off production ofanthocyanins, which are responsible for the color of purple grapes.[17]
Nutrition
Raw grapes are 81% water, 18%carbohydrates, 1%protein, and have negligiblefat (table). A 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference amount of raw grapes supplies 288 kilojoules (69 kilocalories) offood energy and a moderate amount ofvitamin K (12% of theDaily Value), with no othermicronutrients in significant amounts (table).
Concord is a variety of North Americanlabrusca grape
Most domesticated grapes come fromcultivars ofVitis vinifera, a grapevine native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Minor amounts of fruit and wine come from American and Asian species such as:
Vitis labrusca, the North American table and grape juice grapevines (including theConcordcultivar), sometimes used for wine, are native to the Eastern United States and Canada.
Vitis mustangensis (the mustang grape), found in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma
Vitis riparia, a wild vine of North America, is sometimes used for winemaking and jam. It is native to the entire Eastern United States and north toQuebec.
In 2023, the world total of land dedicated to grape growing (inhectares, ha) was 6,595,680 ha (16,298,300 acres).[19] By country dedicating farmland for grape growing in 2023, Spain had 913,000 ha (2,260,000 acres), France 753,340 ha (1,861,500 acres), Italy 713,350 ha (1,762,700 acres), and China 607,030 ha (1,500,000 acres).[19] Approximately 71% of world grape production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit, and 2% asdried fruit.[citation needed]
In 2023, world production of grapes was 72.5 milliontonnes, led by China with 19% of the total, with Italy and France as major secondary producers (table).
Commercially cultivated grapes can usually be classified as eithertable or wine grapes, based on their intended method of consumption: eaten raw (table grapes) or used to makewine (wine grapes). The sweetness of grapes depends on when they are harvested, as they do not continue to ripen once picked.[22] While almost all belong to the same species,Vitis vinifera, table and wine grapes have significant differences, brought about throughselective breeding. Table grape cultivars tend to have large, seedless fruit (see below) with relatively thin skin. Wine grapes are smaller, usually seeded, and have relatively thick skins (a desirable characteristic in winemaking, since much of the aroma in wine comes from the skin).
Grapes accumulate sugars as they grow on thegrapevine through thetransportation ofsucrose molecules that are produced byphotosynthesis from the leaves. Duringripening the sucrose molecules arehydrolyzed (separated) intoglucose andfructose. Wine grapes tend to be very sweet: they are harvested at the time when their juice is approximately 24% sugar by weight. By comparison, commercially produced "100% grape juice", made from table grapes, is usually around 15% sugar by weight.[23]
Wine grapes on the vine
Seedless grapes
Seedless cultivars now make up the overwhelming majority of table grape plantings. Because grapevines arevegetatively propagated by cuttings, the lack of seeds does not present a problem for reproduction. It is an issue for breeders, who must either use a seeded variety as the female parent or rescue embryos early in development usingtissue culture techniques.
There are several sources of the seedlessness trait, and essentially all commercial cultivators get it from one of three sources:Thompson Seedless, Russian Seedless, and Black Monukka, all being cultivars ofVitis vinifera.[citation needed] There are currently more than a dozen varieties of seedless grapes. Several, such as Einset Seedless, Benjamin Gunnels's Prime seedless grapes, Reliance, and Venus, have been specifically cultivated for hardiness and quality in the relatively cold climates of northeastern United States and southernOntario.[24]
An offset to the improved eating quality of seedlessness is the loss of potential health benefits provided by the enrichedphytochemical content of grape seeds (seeHealth claims, below).[25][26]
Grapes are eaten raw, dried (as raisins, currants and sultanas), or cooked. Also, depending on the grape cultivar, grapes are used in winemaking. Grapes can be processed into a multitude of products such as jams, juices, vinegars and oils.Commercially cultivated grapes are classified as either table or wine grapes. These categories are based on their intended method of consumption: grapes that are eaten raw (table grapes), or grapes that are used to make wine (wine grapes).Table grape cultivars normally have large, seedless fruit and thin skins. Wine grapes are smaller (in comparison to table grapes), usually contains seeds, and have thicker skins (a desirable characteristic in making wine). Most of the aroma in wine is from the skin. Wine grapes tend to have a high sugar content. They are harvested at peak sugar levels (approximately 24% sugar by weight.) In comparison, commercially produced "100% grape juice" made from table grapes are normally around 15% sugar by weight.[23]
In most of Europe and North America, dried grapes are referred to as "raisins" or the local equivalent. In Britain and Ireland, three different varieties are recognized, forcing the EU to use the term "dried vine fruit" in official documents.
Araisin is any dried grape. Whileraisin is a Frenchloanword, the word in French refers to the fresh fruit;grappe (from which the Englishgrape is derived) refers to the bunch (as inune grappe de raisins). A raisin in French is calledraisin sec ("dry grape").
Acurrant is a driedZante Black Corinth grape, the name being a corruption of the Frenchraisin de Corinthe (Corinth grape). The names of the black and red currant, now more usuallyblackcurrant andredcurrant, two berries unrelated to grapes, are derived from this use. Some other fruits of similar appearance are also so named, for example, Australian currant, native currant, Indian currant.[27]
Asultana was originally a raisin made fromSultana grapes of Turkish origin (known as Thompson Seedless in the United States), but the word is now applied to raisins made from either white grapes or red grapes that are bleached to resemble the traditional sultana.
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores orfermented and made intowine,brandy, orvinegar.[28] Grape juice that has been pasteurized, removing any naturally occurring yeast, will not ferment if kept sterile, and thus contains no alcohol. In thewine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23% of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must".[28]
In North America, the most common grape juice is purple and made fromConcord grapes, while white grape juice is commonly made fromNiagara grapes, both of which are varieties of native American grapes, a different species from European wine grapes. In California, Sultana (known there as Thompson Seedless) grapes are sometimes diverted from the raisin or table market to produce white juice.[29]
Vinegars
Husrum, also known asverjuice, is a type of vinegar made from sour grapes in the Middle East. It is produced by crushing unripened grapes, collecting and salting the juice, simmering it to remove foam, and then storing it with a layer of olive oil to prevent contamination and oxidation. It is then used as an acidic ingredient in salads and stuffed vegetables.[30] Unripenedhusrum grapes sent fromAshkelon toEgypt are mentioned in a 12th-century document found in theCairo Geniza.[31] In Iran, a sour grape vinegar is used for makingShirazi salad.
Pomace and phytochemicals
Winemaking from red and white grape flesh and skins produces substantial quantities of organic residues, collectively calledpomace (also "marc"), which includes crushed skins, seeds, stems, and leaves generally used ascompost.[32] Grape pomace – some 10–30% of the total mass of grapes crushed – contains variousphytochemicals, such as unfermented sugars, alcohol,polyphenols,tannins,anthocyanins, and numerous other compounds, some of which are harvested andextracted for commercial applications (a process sometimes called "valorization" of the pomace).[32][33]
Skin
Grape cross-section
Anthocyanins tend to be the mainpolyphenolics in purple grapes, whereasflavan-3-ols (i.e.catechins) are the more abundant class of polyphenols in white varieties.[34] Total phenolic content is higher in purple varieties due almost entirely to anthocyanin density in purple grape skin compared to absence of anthocyanins in white grape skin.[34] Phenolic content of grape skin varies withcultivar, soil composition, climate, geographic origin, and cultivation practices or exposure to diseases, such as fungal infections.
The flavonolssyringetin, syringetin 3-O-galactoside,laricitrin and laricitrin 3-O-galactoside are also found in purple grape but absent in white grape.[38]
Resveratrol, astilbene compound, is found in widely varying amounts among grape varieties, primarily in their skins and seeds.[42]Muscadine grapes have about one hundred times higher concentration of stilbenes than pulp. Fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 micrograms of resveratrol per gram.[43]
The consumption of grapes and raisins presents a potential health threat to dogs. Their toxicity to dogs can cause the animal to developacute kidney failure (the sudden development of kidney failure) withanuria (a lack of urine production) and may be fatal.[44]
^"ANGŪR – Encyclopaedia Iranica".iranicaonline.org. Retrieved6 April 2021.According to A. de Candolle (L'Origine des plantes cultivées, Paris, 5th ed., 1912, p. 152) the grape-vine is at home in the region south of the Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the Caspian region of Iran, where "it has the shape of a strong liana climbing over high trees and producing abundant fruit without any pruning or cultivation." His statement is still generally accepted, since the greatest diversity in varieties can be observed there.
^Reisch BI, Peterson DV, Martens M-H."Seedless Grapes"Archived 2008-06-19 at theWayback Machine, in "Table Grape Varieties for Cool Climates", Information Bulletin 234, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, retrieved December 30, 2008.
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^Cosme, F., Pinto, T., & Vilela, A. (2018). Phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in grape juices: A chemical and sensory view.Beverages,4(1), 22, p. 9
^Amar Z (2000).Agricultural Produce in the Land of Israel in the Middle Ages (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi. p. 116.
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^abXu C, Yagiz Y, Zhao L, et al. (2017). "Fruit quality, nutraceutical and antimicrobial properties of 58 muscadine grape varieties (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) grown in United States".Food Chemistry.215:149–156.doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.07.163.ISSN0308-8146.PMID27542461.
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^Beveridge TH, Girard B, Kopp T, et al. (2005). "Yield and Composition of Grape Seed Oils Extracted by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Petroleum Ether: Varietal Effects".Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.53 (5):1799–1804.Bibcode:2005JAFC...53.1799B.doi:10.1021/jf040295q.PMID15740076.
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