Table grapes
California table grapes peak from late August through October, and September is when the good ones get cheap. This is the one thing in the basket that asks nothing of you — no technique, no recipe, no heat. Buy them, keep them cold, eat them.
How to choose it
- Green stems, not brown and brittle — that is the freshness tell, not the fruit
- Grapes firmly attached; if they fall off the bunch, it is old
- A dusty white bloom on the skin is a good sign, not dirt
- Plump, with no shriveling where they meet the stem
- Taste one if the market allows it. Sweetness does not increase after picking
Buy this much: 1–2 lbs. One pound gets eaten; the second one becomes the drink.
The cheapest weeks of the year for grapes. Prices climb again by late fall when the domestic season ends and imports take over.
During the week
- Cold, by the handful
- Halved over Greek yogurt with honey
- Blended into the agua fresca
- Frozen on a tray and eaten like candy
On a weekend
A bowl of cold grapes after the fish tacos.
One thing worth learning
Grapes do not ripen after they are picked. Unlike the peaches and figs of the last two editions, a hard, sour grape stays a hard, sour grape on your counter forever, which is why the stem tells you more than the fruit does. Green, flexible stems mean the bunch came off the vine recently. Brown, dry, brittle stems mean weeks in a cooler, no matter how good the grapes still look.