Grape facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Grape |
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Vitis
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Grapes are a popular fruit that grows on a woody vine. You can eat grapes fresh, or they can be used to make many things like juice, jelly, and even wine. Grapes come in different colors, including red, purple, white, and green.
Today, many grapes you buy are seedless, meaning they don't have those tiny seeds inside. Wild grapevines can grow very fast and sometimes cover other plants.
Did you know that Raisins are simply dried grapes? The word "raisin" actually comes from the French word for "grape."
Since the early 2000s, red grapes have become known as a "superfruit" in many countries, including the United States. This is because they are packed with nutrients and special things called antioxidants, which are good for your body.
Even the leaves of the grapevine are edible! People use them to make a dish called dolmades. Young insects, like the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), also eat grapevine leaves.
Contents
The History of Grapes
People started growing domesticated grapes a very long time ago, about 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, in a region called the Near East. Tiny living things called yeast naturally grow on grape skins. This led to the discovery of how to make alcoholic drinks like wine.
The oldest proof of wine-making in human history comes from Georgia, dating back 8,000 years. The oldest known winery was found in Armenia, from around 4000 BC.
By the 800s AD, the city of Shiraz was famous for making excellent wines. Some people think the red wine grape called Syrah got its name from this city. Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to record how they grew purple grapes. Ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans also grew purple grapes for eating and making wine. Over time, grape growing spread to other parts of Europe, North Africa, and eventually North America.
In North America, native grapes grew wild all over the continent. Native Americans ate them as part of their diet. However, European settlers brought their own grape types, called Vitis vinifera, because they thought the native grapes were not good for making wine.
Where Grapes Grow Around the World
The "Food and Agriculture Organization" (FAO) says that nearly 76,000 square kilometers of land around the world are used to grow grapes. That's a huge area!
Most of these grapes, about 71%, are used to make wine. About 27% are eaten fresh as fruit. Only a small part, about 2%, are dried to become raisins. Some grapes are also made into grape juice, which is used to sweeten canned fruits. The amount of land used for growing grapes is increasing by about 2% each year.
Here are some of the top countries that grow grapes for wine:
- Spain - 11,750 square kilometers
- France - 8,640 square kilometers
- Italy - 8,270 square kilometers
- Turkey - 8,120 square kilometers
- United States - 4,150 square kilometers
- Iran - 2,860 square kilometers
- Romania - 2,480 square kilometers
- Portugal - 2,160 square kilometers
- Argentina - 2,080 square kilometers
- Australia - 1,642 square kilometers
Scientists have noticed something interesting about people's diets. For example, people in France often eat more animal fat than people in other Western countries. Yet, they have fewer cases of heart disease. Many scientists believe this is because the French drink more red wine. Something in the grapes helps lower bad cholesterol in the body, which can prevent arteries from getting blocked. Doctors suggest that enjoying red wine in moderation, like a few glasses a week, can be part of a healthy lifestyle.
All colors of grapes offer health benefits. Red wine has some benefits that white wine doesn't. This is because many good nutrients are found in the grape skins. Red wine is made by fermenting the grapes with their skins, while white wine is not.
How White Grapes Evolved
White grapes actually came from green grapes through evolution. Changes in two specific genes stopped the creation of a pigment called anthocyanin. Anthocyanin is what gives red grapes their red or purple color.
Raisins, Currants, and Sultanas Explained
A raisin is simply any dried grape. A currant is a dried grape from a specific type of grape called the Zante grape. Its name comes from the French phrase raisin de Corinthe, meaning "Corinth grape." A sultana was originally a raisin made from a special grape type from Turkey. Now, the word is also used for raisins made from common North American grapes that are treated to look like traditional sultanas.
It's important to remember that the word "currant" can also mean blackcurrant and redcurrant. These two berries are completely different from grapes and are not related!
Growing Seedless Grapes
Most of the grapes you eat fresh, called table grapes, are now seedless. This is great for eating! Since grapevines can be grown from cuttings (pieces of the plant), not having seeds isn't a problem for growing new plants.
However, it is a challenge for people who breed new grape varieties. They have to either use a grape type that has seeds as the "mother" plant, or they use special lab techniques called tissue culture to grow the tiny grape embryos very early.
The seedless trait in grapes comes from a few main sources. Almost all commercial seedless grapes get this trait from one of three types: Thompson Seedless, Russian Seedless, or Black Monukka. All of these are types of the Vitis vinifera grape.
Today, there are more than a dozen kinds of seedless grapes. Some, like Einset Seedless, Benjamin Gunnels's Prime seedless grapes, Reliance, and Venus, have been specially grown to be strong and grow well in colder places, like the northeastern United States and southern Ontario.
Images for kids
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Grapes
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"White" table grapes
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Concord is a variety of North American labrusca grape
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Grape juice
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Flower buds
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Flowers
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Immature fruit
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Grapes in Iran
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Wine grapes
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Vineyard in the Troodos Mountains
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seedless grapes
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Grapes in the La Union, Philippines
See also
In Spanish: Uva para niños
