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Grape
Raisin
Appears in
Published 2010
Vitis vinifera
Champagne Grapes
The grape is a true berry belonging to the Vitaceae family. Grapes are often classified according to how they will be used: as a table fruit, as a baking or cooking fruit, for the purpose of winemaking, or for the manufacture of raisins. The grape is a fruit that grows in clusters of 6 to 300 fruits on deciduous woody vines. Grapes are generally smooth skinned and juicy, and have been cultivated with or without seeds.
The varieties of grapes number in the thousands, some having been modified to suit the needs of consumers by taste and color. The seedless and the slip-skin varieties provide examples of these modifications. Of all fruits, the grape has been one of the most often mentioned fruit in historical records and one of the most widely shared. It is not certain where grapes originated, but it is believed that grape vines were grown as early as 2375 BC by the Egyptians, or even earlier by the Chinese.