production goes to make wine; of the rest,
about two-thirds are eaten fresh and a third
are made into raisins. There are many
thousands of grape varieties. Most wine
varieties originated in Europe, while varieties
for eating fresh or making into raisins can
often be traced back to western Asian parents.
Wine grapes come in relatively small clusters
and are acidic enough to help control the yeast
fermentation; table grapes come in large
clusters and are less tart; raisin varieties have
a thin skin, high sugar content, and loose
cluster structure to facilitate drying. The
commonest table and raisin grape in the
United States, the Thompson seedless or
sultana, is a variant of an ancient Middle
Eastern all-purpose variety, the Kishmish.
Table grapes are quite diverse. They may be
seedy or seedless, deep purple with
anthocyanins or pale yellow; their sugar
content may range from 14 to 25%, their
acidity from 0.4 to 1.2%. They may have a
barry
(Barry)
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