Grapes

Oh, the varied ways to enjoy grapes.

You may relish just tossing cold, seedless grapes into the air and catching them in your mouth.

Chefs and bakers cook up dried grapes in bread pudding, butter tarts and raisin bread. And on a hot day, you can reach into the freezer to treat yourself to rum raisin ice cream.

Even grape leaves serve a purpose. In Greek cuisine, dolmades are a popular appetizer with grape leaves wrapped around rice and meat concoctions.

Gardeners train grapevines to climb trellises. Then, the vines and their fruit are grown on a larger scale at wineries, where people harvest, crush, ferment and bottle grapes to cater to our thirst for vino.

Children’s television programmers even use non-alcoholic grape juice to instruct and entertain. Recall Ernie and Bert explaining the difference between more and less in the classic and comedic delicious grape juice skit (a circa 1970s episode of “Sesame Street”).
 
Apart from consuming grapes in their many forms, artists also sketch, paint, carve and photograph them. Authors, singers and storytellers weave grape-related symbolism into myths, songs, poems and books.

Now naturopaths and dietary supplement manufacturers tout the antioxidant properties of proanthocyanidins―found in abundance in grape and apple skins―as a way to help defend you from harmful free radicals and possibly prevent certain cardiovascular diseases.
 

Regardless of your motivation, enjoy those grapes, because they are indeed

        AWESOME!