Emperor Christmas Rose Red Globe
FoodFood InformationFruitGrapes
The Cardinal is a cherry-red-skinned variety that is as prettyas a picture. It was produced by crossing a Ribier grape with a Tokay. TheCardinal is the first dark-skinned variety (red or blue) to arrive in themarket. It makes its debut in May and is usually gone by mid-July. It hasonly fair flavor and tough skin and is a fragile variety. It isn't nearlyas flavorful as the Tokay or Queen varieties.
The Flame Tokay is the parent of the Flame seedless, and until itsoffspring made its debut, it was the best of the red-skinned varieties.It is still a superb red grape whose only shortcoming is a few seeds. TheTokay has a fairly large, pale-red berry with a tender skin, an excellentsweet flavor, and a crunchy texture. The Tokays arrive in July and windup at the end of October. A few are imported from Chile during the wintermonths. This is one of the few table grape varieties (the others are theThompson Seedless and the Muscatels) with a high enough sugar content tobe used in making wine.
The red Queen is a fine new variety that is still in limited supply.It has the largest berry of any of the red-skinned varieties. It is colorful,tender-skinned, and crunchy in texture, and has a fine flavor. The Queenshave a rather short season, available only in August and September. Thisvariety has not yet been produced in Chile.
The Red Malaga is a variety that is gradually disappearing. Its cousin,the white (green) Malaga, has already been phased out. The Red Malaga hasfirm, medium-sized berries. The bunches are small and scraggly and the flavoris very mild.
The Emperor variety is second only to the Thompson Seedless in tonnage.It is second to all other grape varieties in flavor and texture. Althoughthe Emperor is attractive in color and grows in large, graceful bunches,it is our least flavorful grape. It has a very low sugar content and a verytough, chewy skin. Its greatest asset, besides its tremendous yield peracre and low price per pound, is its hardiness. It is the darling of theself-service markets because it can withstand rough handling. They arrivein market in August and wind up in March, and they are also imported fromChile during the winter months.
The Christmas Rose is very crunchy, juicy, sweet and full of fruityflavor. Late September to January.
The Red Globe is very Large, firm with big seeds and mild flavor. It stores well. September to January.
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