First things First – How to pick them and how to eat them

Selecting the best fruit:

  • Black/purple varieties will change color long before they are fully ripe. Look for fruits that are a uniform, dark color and feel soft when you give them a gentle squeeze. The longer they are allowed to ripen, the sweeter and juicier they will be.
  • Bronze varieties don’t have such a pronounced change in color, but they will also darken from the unripe solid green to a darker bronze color, and may appear slightly translucent when fully ripe. They will also soften when fully ripe, so giving a fruit a gentle squeeze is the best way to check if it is ready for picking.
  • Most varieties do not ripen uniformly – meaning that while some muscadines in a cluster might be ripe, others will not be. Instead of picking whole clusters you should pick each fruit individually – this is how you get the ripest and best muscadines.
Ripe bronze muscadines on the vine.
In this photo only the darkest muscadines might be ripe
Ripe bronze muscadines on the vine.
This photo shows some ripe bronze muscadines next to unripe green ones
Ripe purple muscadines on the vine.
Most of these appear to be ripe

How to eat a muscadine:

Muscadines are a healthy and delicious treat, but they differ from your average grocery store grape in a few key ways. Muscadine skins are edible, and packed with nutrients, but they are thicker and can have an intense flavor. The seeds are also edible and nutritious, but many people prefer not to eat them. There are several options for consuming the muscadine fruit fresh – try them out and find your own preference!

Option 1: Chew up the whole fruit and eat it – skin and seeds included. This method will give you the most nutrients.

Option 2: Squeeze the fruit out of the skin through the stem scar directly into your mouth and swallow whole. You won’t get the health benefits of the seeds and skin this way, since the seeds won’t digest if swallowed whole.

Option 3: Squeeze the fruit out of the skin through the stem scar into your mouth, chew gently and use your teeth and tongue to separate the seeds from the soft fruit, and spit the seeds out.

Option 4: Whatever you prefer!! Maybe you like the flavor of the skins but not the seeds? Then chew the skins and spit out the seeds! Maybe you hate the skins but the seeds don’t bother you? Then squeeze the fruit out of the skin and chew it up, seeds and all!