“This year, we introduced Natural Flames; a small, Flame seedless grape variety that’s grown on older vines,” says Jeff Simonian with Simonian Fruit Company. Until last year, the company grew raisins on these vines, but switched to table grapes to meet customer demand. “We did already grow the green counterpart (Thompson seedless) and now offer both colors.”Different cultural practices
“Growing grapes for wine, raisins or table grapes requires different cultural growing practices,” mentioned Simonian. Wine grapes are just grown, picked and crushed. With table grapes on the other hand, girdling the vines and using sprays is part of the cultural practices as these grapes are preferred to be larger in size. “With the Natural Flames we haven’t done any of that,” shared Simonian. Instead of girdling the vines, the grapes are grown all naturally. As a result, they are smaller than a traditional table grape, making their sweetness more concentrated. “The intense flavor is what’s most appealing about this grape variety. It makes it a specialty grape.”
Simonian Fruit grows 60 acres of Natural Flames and they appear to attract interest from ethnic groups primarily. “It is a popular type of grape in Middle Eastern, Hispanic and areas with large Asian populations.” This specialty item is available from August until October.
For more information:
Jeff Simonian
Simonian Fruit Company
Tel: (+1) 559-834-5307