I had never had Concord grapes before I moved to New York. Named after the Massachusetts town where they were developed, they’re not exactly easy to come by in the southern United States. The first year I lived in the city, I was at the Union Square Farmers Market, and one of the stalls was giving away samples of these blue-black grapes, the skin frosted by a white bloom. I popped one in my mouth, and it was a revelation: in this little sphere was the concentrated flavor I knew only from purple sugar-water popsicles, corn syrup laced sodas, and drugstore candies. The flavor that those barely sweet grocery store grapes made me think was born in laboratory had a real, natural, grows-on-a-vine origin! But the real deal is so much more complex than what “grape flavor” approximates. The aubergine-colored skin has a sophisticated musky floral note while the juicy flesh tastes just like a purple Sweet-Tart.
This sounds DELIGHTFUL. I am a New Englander transplanted to California, and have been kicking myself for *months* that I did not grab the Thomcord grapes (apparently a Thompson-Concord hybrid) they had at Whole Foods exactly one time I walked in. There were apparently-wild Concord-esque grapes growing in a blueberry patch and along a stone wall up the road from me growing up, which feels like such a distillation of the idea of New Hampshire it could be a caricature.
Thanks to your comment about the post title my partner and I had an extensive silly exchange about pronunciation. They have never set foot in New England, but they have auditory processing issues and so supplement their hearing with lip-reading; after I repeated "Concord" and "conquered" for them a number of times they proclaimed that I do in fact say them differently, in the sense that the shape of my mouth is different, but that they still sound identical. So there's that.
The Conquered Grape (a non-alcoholic Concord grape cocktail served on the rocks)
This sounds DELIGHTFUL. I am a New Englander transplanted to California, and have been kicking myself for *months* that I did not grab the Thomcord grapes (apparently a Thompson-Concord hybrid) they had at Whole Foods exactly one time I walked in. There were apparently-wild Concord-esque grapes growing in a blueberry patch and along a stone wall up the road from me growing up, which feels like such a distillation of the idea of New Hampshire it could be a caricature.
Thanks to your comment about the post title my partner and I had an extensive silly exchange about pronunciation. They have never set foot in New England, but they have auditory processing issues and so supplement their hearing with lip-reading; after I repeated "Concord" and "conquered" for them a number of times they proclaimed that I do in fact say them differently, in the sense that the shape of my mouth is different, but that they still sound identical. So there's that.