Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit
Garden Gate Vineyards - Mocksville, NC - Photo by Amy C Evans, SFA oral historian August 2008
The first recognized muscadine cultivar was a bronze selection, found prior to 1760 by Isaac Alexander in Tyrrell County, North Carolina (Reimer, 1909). In 2001, the North Carolina General Assembly named the Scuppernong the official state fruit (NC Muscadine Association).
What’s a muscadine grape?
Muscadine grapes are native to North Carolina and… are large, thick-skinned grapes that typically contain four large seeds and grow in loose clusters. Unlike bunch grapes, that are harvested by clipping whole bunches from the vine, muscadines are usually harvested as individual berries. They can be bronze or black in color.
What’s in a name?
Where did the name muscadine originate? When the early settlers arrived in America, they were familiar with the muscat grape, which is a French grape that is used in making muscatel wine. And the word muscat derives from the Latin muscus, which describes the smell of a male musk deer. The early settlers called the sweet, musk-scented wild grapes that they found here by the same name as the sweet grapes they had known in Europe, and that eventually became muscadine.
Is it a Muscadine or a Scuppernong?
Scuppernong Juice - Photo courtesy of Ian Muttoo-Flickr
“All Scuppernongs are Muscadines, but not all Muscadines are Scuppernongs.” Muscadine is a broad category of grape that includes many cultivars of both bronze and black grapes. Both bronze and dark cultivars taste great and make wonderful jams, jellies, pies, juices and wines. Scuppernong is one of the bronze cultivars, and were the first muscadine grapes discovered and cultivated in America. With Scuppernong being one of the oldest and most popular cultivars, the name is sometimes used to refer to any bronze cultivar of muscadine….
Source: Excerpted from a North Carolina Muscadine Association brochure
Visit www.ncmuscadine.org for more information.
According to the State Library of North Carolina:
The Scuppernong (vitis rotundifolia) is a variety of muscadine grape, and has the distinction of being the first grape ever actively cultivated in the United States. It was named for the Scuppernong River, which runs from Washington County to the Albemarle Sound. Giovanni de Verrazano noticed this variety as far back as 1524, and explorers for Sir Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh, as it’s sometimes spelled) in the 1580′s sent back reports from the Outer Banks of grape vines that “…covered every shrub and climbed the tops of high cedars. In all the world, a similar abundance was not to be found.” The Roanoke colonists are credited with discovering the Scuppernong “Mother Vineyard,” a vine that is now over 400 years old and covers half an acre.
Grape cultivation (of scuppernong and other varieties) is a small but growing part of the North Carolina economy. According to a 2007 press release from the Governor’s office, North Carolina was ranked tenth in the nation for both grape and wine production, and the industry produced $813 million a year for the state’s economy.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
SESSION LAW 2001-488
HOUSE BILL 382
AN ACT ADOPTING THE OFFICIAL FRUIT AND BERRIES OF NORTH CAROLINA.
PART I. NORTH CAROLINA’S HERITAGE OF FARMING.
Whereas, North Carolina’s economy originated and developed as an agrarian economy with a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables; and
Whereas, the State takes great pride in its rich heritage of farming; and
Whereas, there are still many families who base their livelihood in farming and who are continuing the North Carolina tradition of producing goods from our land; and
Whereas, one of the main sources of agricultural production in the State is the production of fruits and berries of several varieties; and
PART II. THE SCUPPERNONG GRAPE.
Whereas, North Carolina is the home of our nation’s first cultivated grape, the Scuppernong; and
Whereas, the Scuppernong grape was named after the Scuppernong River in North Carolina; and
Whereas, British explorers in 1584 and 1585 reported to Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh that the barrier islands of what is now, in part, Roanoke Island were full of grapes and that the soil of the land was “so abounding with sweet trees that bring rich and most pleasant gummes, grapes of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain, nor Italy hath not greater…”; and
Whereas, Sir Walter Raleigh’s colony discovered the famous Scuppernong “Mother Vineyard” on Roanoke Island, a vine that is now over 400 years old and has a trunk over two feet thick; and
Whereas, the State toast, penned in 1904, references North Carolina as the land “[w]here the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,”
Part III (relates to the official state berries)
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Chapter 145 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
Ҥ 145-18. State fruit and State berries.
(a) The official fruit of the State of North Carolina is the Scuppernong grape (Vitis genus).
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 5th day of December, 2001.
Citation styles
- MLA style
- Cynthia Kirkeby, “Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit.” State Reports by ClassBrain. 10 June 2010, 05:21 UTC. . 6 Feb 2012 <http://www.statereports.us/2010/06/scuppernong-nc-state-fruit/>.
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- Cynthia Kirkeby, “Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit.” State Reports by ClassBrain, http://www.statereports.us/2010/06/scuppernong-nc-state-fruit/ [accessed February 6, 2012].
[...] Scuppernong Grape â North Carolina’s State Fruit [...]
[...] Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit. Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports [...]
[...] Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit. Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports [...]
[...] Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit. Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports [...]