BY JANE BLOODWORTH ROWE
VIRGINIA BEACH — On an overcast early Fall day, bronze, black and green native grapes hung heavily on the vines in this Knotts Island orchard, their vivid colors glowing in the faint raises of sun that peeked through the clouds.
Some of their wild cousins grew in a small clump of woods nearby, and their fruit was just as colorful, juicy and tantalizing as the cultivated varieties.
It’s hard to resist these grapes when they’re picked and packed in a box, and impossible to resist them when you see them growing in the wild. Despite my best efforts, I always have to reach out and pick at least a few to sample.
So are these grapes muscadines or scuppernongs? Which color is called by which name? Or does it matter?
I’d always been confused on this point, so I asked David Martin of Martin’s Island Produce, who is growing and marketing these grapes.
The term “muscadine,” he said, was an umbrella term for thick-skinned, large grapes native to the southern coastal regions. The golden scuppernongs were just one variety of muscadine.
Colloquially, Martin said, the black grapes were often called muscadines and the golden, green, or bronze grapes were called scuppernongs, so many people are confused on that point. They are also sometimes called fox grapes, and they were a food source for the Native Americans. The early English settlers found them growing wild and soon began to cultivate them.
The scuppernong was first seen growing near the Scuppernong River in North Carolina, and it’s now the North Carolina state fruit. Cultivars have been developed from the original native grapes, Martin said, and there are now hundreds of varieties of muscadines, each one with its own distinctive flavor. Some of them, to me, have a taste very similar to Concord grapes.
Muscadines are more resistant to insects and disease than their European counterparts, and they can tolerate high humidity without developing fungi because they evolved to live in this climate. It’s still possible to find muscadines growing wild in this area, and I have found and picked the wild fruit a few times. They are scarce, however, and often grow high in the trees where they’re hard to reach.
The very sweet scuppernong wine has long been a tradition in this area, and some people use muscadines in jellies or other recipes. Martin is particularly fond of the wine, which he makes in his garage for his family to enjoy, and he said that his family owned a cookbook of scuppernong recipes. Despite its role in local culture, however, many people don’t know what the muscadine is, he said, and he’s hoping to change that.
He has clumps of low-lying wild fruit on his farm, but he’s also cultivating an acre of different varieties that are in season now.
Martin and his daughter, Marina Martin, market the grapes, which will likely be available until Thanksgiving, at local farm stands, and they are now available for pick-your-own by appointment.
Martin’s Island Produce also grows many other types of produce. Right now, the fall tomatoes are ripening and the collards, kale, and lettuce are up and doing well despite the unseasonably hot, dry early-and-mid September weather.
Local people love the fall greens, and broccoli is a particularly hot seller, Martin said. He’s cultivating rows of broccoli that will be marketed to local restaurants or through Marina Martin’s community supported agriculture program.
Late summer and early fall produce is now available, and Marina Martin was driving a truck-load of melons and pears on one recent day as she prepared for that weekend’s delivery.
She delivers boxes of produce to individual customers as far south as Currituck County and as far north as Virginia Beach Boulevard, she said, and she expects to continue delivering at least until January and possibly through the entire winter.
Customers can order on the online store, which is available through Facebook, and the boxes are also available on a weekly basis or on a subscription plan.
For more information, search @martinsislandproduce on Facebook. Call (757) 617-7065 to make an appointment or pick grapes.
The author is a contributor to The Independent News. Her journalism has also appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.
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