Wednesday, 4 September 2013

Black Corinth Grapes


To be truthful, Black Corinth grapes (above) are used for at least three purposes, for the table, for wine-making and for currants. This was bought at a branch of the big two supermarkets the other day. The main use of this grape is actually for drying, and its small grains yield the small black dried grapes that we call currants, not because it has anything to do with the fruits of the Ribes genus (ie black and red currants) but because we corrupted the word Corinth. This grape was mentioned in the blog about Mavrodaphne of Patras, because it is the other grape (apart from Mavrodaphne) used in that famous wine.

The oldest of all raisins, Black Corinth grapes were mentioned by Pliny the Elder and came from many producers along the Ionian coasts although they were named in the 14th and 15th century after Corinth, where they were exported. Production shifted to Zakynthos (Zante) in the 17th century and so the name Zante currants was adopted in the USA.

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