Grape

A grape is the fruit of a vine in the family Vitaceae. It is commonly used for making grape juice, jelly, wine, Grape seed oil and raisins, or can be eaten raw.

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Many species of grape exist including:

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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, primarily crosses of V. vinifera with 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.

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The sea grape Coccoloba uvifera is actually a member of the Buckwheat family Polygonaceae and is native to the lands of the Caribbean Sea.

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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". 7926000 hectares of grapes are grown worldwide with the vineyard area increasing by about 2% per year. Spain (3052), France (2260), Italy (2240), Turkey (1432), United States (971), China (888), Iran (744), Portugal (613), Romania (610) and Argentina (506) make up the top ten for vineyard area in the world, respectively .

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Grapes are being extensively researched all over the world as a result of the "French Paradox" contrasting the diets of the French with those of other Western countries, particularly the United States. Despite the fact that the French eat substantially more animal fat, they have a significantly lower incidence of heart disease. Many scientists now believe the reason is the greater consumption of red wine in France. Compounds such as resveratrol have been discovered in grapes.

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Resveratrol and other grape compounds have been positively linked to fighting cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease and other ailments.

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Although many people incorrectly assume that red grapes have the most health benefits, the fact is that grapes of all colors have comparable benefits. Red wine has health benefits not found in white wine because many of these compounds are found in the skins of the grapes and only red wine is fermented with the skins.

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Wild grapes are often considered a nuisance weed as they cover other plants and form thick entangling vines.

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Grapes are juicy, and smooth berries that grow on a woody vine. They grow in cluster of 6 to 300, can be black, blue, golden, green, purple red and white.

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Image:Grapes.jpg|A bunch of grapes

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Image:Autumn Royal grapes.jpg|Autumn Royal grapes

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Image:Ripe grapes.jpg|Red and green grapes

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Image:More grapes.jpg|Red grapes

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Image:Flame seedless grapes.jpg|Flame seedless grapes

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Image:Concord grape plant.jpg|Foliage of the Concord grape plant

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Image:Grapevinefoliage.jpg|Foliage of the New England wild grape

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Image:Wild-grapes-indiana.jpg|Wild grapes in central Indiana

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Grape: External links ►

Fruit: In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegeta...

Vine: :For the Australian garage rock band, see the Vines....

Grape juice: Grape juice is the liquid formed by crushing grapes. The liquid can then be fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. The juice can also be sweetened and preserved as a non-alcoholic beverage. Preserving grape juice requires pasteurization because the unprocessed juice will naturally ferm...

Grape related Images and Photos (experimental)

Grape Shot	Grape Hyacinth	The Grape Harvest	Grape Harvest Los Olivos
Grape Vine Botanical Plate circa 1820	Betty Boop Grape Stomper Wine Glass	Grape-pickers Carrying Grapes to the Press	I Love Lucy Grape Stomping Lucy Wine Glass
I Love Lucy Grape Stomping Framed Photo	I Love Lucy Grape Stomping Lucy Wine Stopper	The Grape Harvest at Argenteuil 1875	Art of the Grape 2011 Wall Calendar

~ Table of Content ~

►	Introduction
►	External links

►	FR: Raisin

~ Related Subjects ~

Heart disease (2) - Wine (2) - Plant (1) - Food (1) - Plum (1) - Orange (1) - Apple (1) - Seed (1) - Ovary (1) - Flowering plant (1) - Cuisine (1) - Ripen (1) - Vegetable (1) - Non-alcoholic (1) - Vinegar (1) -

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