Comments on: green salad w/grapes, goat cheese & candied pecans

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:36:22 +0000

In GA, muscadines grow everywhere. I just finished picking a few lbs of muscadines and scupernogs (the light-colored sister). The wild muscadines here are normal grape size, but they can get huge if watered on a regular basis. The scupernogs are so sweet I can’t wait to make jam out of them!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:08:30 +0000

I’ve had grapes like that before, maybe they were different but HUGE dark delicious grapes. I’ve actually made a really similar salad for a little while now – spring mix, baby spinach, cucumbers, halved or sliced grapes (depending on the size), sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and feta if the bf hasn’t eaten all of it (which he frequently does) with a light red wine vinegarette.

I can’t stand typical salads with tomatoes and carrots and hated most salads for a while, but once I started making salads like these (ie DELICIOUS salads), I can’t get enough. A friend of mine was telling me about a regional goat cheese maker today, and I’ve been thinking of what I could use *good* goat cheese on – I can’t believe I forgot about these!

By: mel

mel — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:03:06 +0000

Why have I never seen these before?!? I think I’ve heard of Muscadine wine, though I can’t say I’m a fan of the sweet wines. I loved them fresh and would probably love them in jam or jelly. I’m also thinking of making a sauce for pork loin by reducing some with red wine…Thoughts?

By: Donald

Donald — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:36:38 +0000

Great looking salad!

We here in the ATL have muscadine EVERYTHING! Jelly, wine, just all kinds of stuff. I think they are excellent, my wife, not so much.

By: ttfn300

ttfn300 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:33:43 +0000

hmm, seen those grapes but never tried them. actually, i just got caught up in those buy one get one figs!!!!

By: Ursula

Ursula — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:42:02 +0000

I was surprised to see you slice these grapes. As a child, I was taught to pinch one end and suck the fruit out of the skin, composting the skins. Sometimes the skin is too thick to just squeeze the pulp out, so you have to bite a little hole and suck it out. They make delicious jelly. My granny used to make all her jellies with the wild vine that grew by her butter bean patch.

Jehan, are you talking about Lakeridge Winery? My husband and I used to live in Orlando and would stop to get their wines on our way back and forth to my parents’ house. We’re sweet desert wine lovers, so they were really tasty to us.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:18:44 +0000

I’ve only recently come across these guys, myself. My Mom grew up in Illinois, and she told me that she had these growing outside of her bedroom, as a kid. She was really excited when she (now living in Florida – kind of the definition of “hot and humid”) found a local winery that makes Muscadine wines. We tried some while visiting, and the wines are incredibly sweet. I can’t say I liked it much, but I’d love to find the raw grapes and try them. They look awesome.

By: RecipeGirl

RecipeGirl — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:50:03 +0000

I will definitely be checking out our local market to see if they carry those. It does sound like a good pairing with goat cheese in a salad.

By: Mia

Mia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:28:05 +0000

I love muscadine grapes – both the purple kind and the bronze (scuppernong) variety. They are so fun to eat!

By: ali

ali — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:59:12 +0000

Muscadine grapes are used to make wine in the south.