These were advertised in today's paper, but they weren't available yet. I think the Witches Fingers look awesome! I had to Google 'em to make sure they weren't some GMO freaky grapes. Hope they have them in tomorrow.Anyone know anything about them?

The Witchfinger grapes sound like they would taste good.
The shape and the name might get children interested in eating more fruit.

http://www.midwestfoods.com/he...

Yes, Greene, I was looking for them to take to my grandson for school snacks. They are allowed to have snacks in class as long as there is no peanut, or peanut residue, in the snack.

Sandi ...

All of the produce up here is over priced, but I can tell you that the cotton candy grapes are selling for $2 more per pound than the over priced green or red grapes.

Smiles,
Lyn

I figured they'd be more expensive because they're new to the area. The Cotton Candy was available, but they were in a huge clam shell. I didn't check the price. I was "on a mission" to find the witches fingers.
Have you tried the cotton candy grapes? I just wonder how sweet they are?

Nope ... not at almost $6 per pound. I usually buy the green grapes when I go down the mountain to do my grocery shopping and freeze them. For me, they are the perfect snack.

Smiles,
Lyn

I didn't find the Witches Fingers anywhere. Central Market didn't get them in "because it was the end of the season and there weren't any suppliers."

Well, I bet there will be lots of them next year. Maybe even cheaper!

So the mystery of the missing Witches Fingers grapes seems to be solved. They had to change the name of them because kids were "icked out" by the thought of eating a finger of anything, much less a grape. They are now Tear Drops and are they ever sweet (but not cheap)! I posted a photo of what was left because we ate the rest! There's only one farm that produces them so that's why they're more expensive.
They have modified the shape so it doesn't look like a finger anymore.

We have cotton candy grapes in the grocery store, which do not tempt me at all (I've never liked cotton candy). The witch fingers look much more fun - but how did they 'modify' the shape? And since when did kids have an 'ick' factor? There are also some really huge grapes that show up around the winter holidays, I forget what they call those. All interesting novelties.

"How did they modify the shape?" Probably had someone knit teenie little too small socks to put over each grape.

Hmm before modifying they looked like mini dreads or maybe Medusa's hair. 😵😵

Bubbles said:...someone knit teenie little too small socks...

Found an article from Bon Appetit that may help explain the disappearance of Witches Fingers. 'Also why we can only get these specialty grapes in August.

http://www.bonappetit.com/test...

Awesome! See.. now I want to get some and save the seeds....

except they are seedless varieties...

Super-sweet varieties marketed at "boutique" prices, yep we have them here, too... our local grocery stores (both Giant and Wegman's) have had 'Moon Drop' and 'Cotton Candy' grapes, but I haven't seen 'Witch's Fingers' aka 'Tear Drop' yet. And yes, they are $5-6 per pound here, too. Even ordinary seedless grapes can be $4 but can usually be found at $1-2 per pound.

Similarly, the stores have discovered they can get $2-3 per pound more for 'Honeycrisp' apples. We love them, but we're not often willing to pay the premium... they are a special treat, like those extra-tasty pinkish 'Cara Cara' oranges. Mostly, our apples are whatever crunchy kind I can find in the 5 pound bags at Wegman's (75 cents per pound is hard to beat, especially since our local orchards are charging "boutique" prices, even by the bushel).

Amazing! I was looking for this thread and couldn't remember where it was. It just popped up! Great timing! I found more grapes that are really sweet, and very small. Can't remember the other available varieties, but somebody must know if they "design 'em," we will buy 'em. These are called Gum Drops. Super sweet, and the tiniest ones are just as flavorful as the larger (still small) ones. I believe one of the new varieties was Gum Balls.



I did save some of the Tear Drops for @Robynanne, squished them, but found no seeds. (I still have a few in the garage frig ).

Our store had many of the specialty grapes on sale for $2.99 a pound a couple of weeks ago so I bought a small amount of Cotton Candy, Midnight Beauty and Moon Drops. I was inspired by this thread to experiment.

The Cotton Candy grapes were interesting, but overwhelmingly sweet and the flavor seemed short-lived. The first bite gave the taste of lots of sugar and the odd, candy flavor but then it quickly became vapid. They also seemed to get soft quicker than the other varieties, which I don't like. I won't bother with these again.

The Midnight Beauty grapes were very attractive and stayed the proper firmness. The flavor was good, much better than some of the older dark grapes. Nice overall grape. I'd buy these again if they are on sale.

I loved the Moon Drops! They are pretty sweet as well, but the flavor is much more complex than that of the Cotton Candy grapes and remained enjoyable from start to finish. The shape is amusing, as well. I would definitely buy these again. Yum!

I'll be keeping an eye out for new varieties to try.

I loved the claim that they get their extra sweetness from being harvested when ripe,
instead of being harvested when they would last longest on the shelf.

Imagine that, "harvesting when ripe"! A concept that escaped every previous agribusiness.

I wonder what triggered these guys to do something as radical as "harvesting when ripe"?

Maybe someone said "That would annoy the supermarkets, and they would expire quickly, so they would have to charge a ridiculous, obscene amount of money for RIPE grapes!"

And some Ferngi manager said: "GREAT Idea! We LOVE obscene amounts of money!"

I got some 'Moon Drops' last week, they were just under $3.00 a pound. It was the first time I had seen or heard of them, and I do like to try new things. I haven't bought grapes of any kind hardly, in a long time, so I honestly don't really remember what normal black seedless grapes taste like. I really like the Moon Drops, they are pretty sweet, and have lots of flavor. The shape would make them really nice on a mixed fruit platter, I think, and/or with a fruit dip of some type. They could be dipped without having to dip your fingers, too. I tried the Cotton Candy grapes when they were introduced here a couple of years ago, didn't like them. No surprise, I don't like cotton candy at all, and they really do taste just like it. That WAS a surprise!
Now I'm going to be watching for the Midnight Beauties.

Rusty