Grape
From Freepedia
Grapes are the sweet juicy smooth fruit or berries that grow on a woody grape-vine. The grape belongs to the family Vitaceae. Grapes grow in clusters of 6 to 300, and can be black, blue, golden, green, purple-red and white. They can be eaten raw or used for making grape juice, jelly, wine, and grape-seed oil. Raisins are the dried fruit of the grape, and the name comes from the French word for "grape". Wild grapes are often considered a nuisance weed, as they cover other plants and form thick entangling vines.
Many species of grape exist and these varieties include:
- Vitis vinifera, the European winemaking grapes
- Vitis labrusca, the North American table and grape juice grapes, sometimes used for wine
- Vitis riparia, a wild grape of North America, sometimes used for winemaking
- Vitis rotundifolia, the muscadines, used for jelly and sometimes wine
- Vitis aestivalis, the variety Norton is used for winemaking
- Vitis lincecumii (also called Vitis aestivalis or Vitis lincecumii), Vitis berlandieri (also called Vitis cinerea var. helleri), Vitis cinerea, Vitis rupestris are used for making hybrid wine grapes and for pest-resistant rootstocks.
Hybrids also exist, and these are primarily crosses between V. vinifera and one or more varieties of V. labrusca, V. riparia or V. aestivalis. Hybrids tend to be less susceptible to frost and disease (notably phylloxera), but wine from some hybrids may have a little of the characteristic "foxy" odor of labrusca.
The sea grape Coccoloba uvifera is actually a member of the Buckwheat family Polygonaceae and is native to the lands of the Caribbean Sea.
According to the "Food and Agriculture Organization"(FAO), 75866 square kilometres of the world is dedicated to grapes. Approximately 71% of world grape production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit and 2% as dried fruit. A portion of grape production goes to producing grape juice to be used as a sweetener for fruits canned "with no added sugar" and "100% natural". The area dedicated to vineyards is increasing by about 2% per year.
The following list of top wine-producers shows the corresponding areas dedicated to grapes for wine making:
- Spain 11,750 km²
- France 8,640 km²
- Italy 8,270 km²
- Turkey 8,120 km²
- United States 4,150 km²
- Iran 2,860 km²
- Romania 2,480 km²
- Portugal 2,160 km²
- Argentina 2,080 km²
- China 1,780 km²
Sources: FAO, Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (pdf).
Researchers comparing diets in western countries have discovered that although the French tend to eat higher levels of animal fat, surprisingly the incidence of heart disease remains low in France. Many scientists now believe the reason is the greater consumption of red wine in France. Something in the grape helps to lower cholesterol levels in the body and thus slows the build up of deposits in the arteries. Compounds such as resveratrol have been discovered in grapes and these have been positively linked to fighting cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease and other ailments.
Although many people incorrectly assume that red grapes are more beneficial to the health, in fact grapes of all colors offer comparable benefits. Red wine however does offer some health benefits not found in white wine, because many of the beneficial compounds are found in the skins of the grapes, and only red wine is fermented with the skins.
 A bunch of grapes |
 Autumn Royal grapes |
 Red and green grapes |
 Red grapes |
 Flame seedless grapes |
 Foliage of the Concord grape plant |
 Foliage of the New England wild grape |
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