do you love concord grapes as much as i do?

I am embarrassingly fond of concord grapes. How about you? Do they take you back to your childhood as they do me? Growing up in Maryland, we had a neighbor who grew them in their side yard, conveniently located between our house and the junior high. Walking home from school, we would casually grab a bunch and eat them on the remainder of the walk. (now that I’m an adult with edibles in the garden, I realize that wasn’t so nice… sorry neighbor!)

But, I’m happy to report they are back in season and available locally at my favorite fruit stand, C.J. Olson, in downtown Sunnyvale. http://cjolsoncherries.com/

The bowlful in the above photo is almost gone now. And they were FANTASTIC!! Something about the chewy, tart skins and sweet, gooey interior hits my palate the right way. Most grapes taste the same all the way through…sweet, almost candy-like, yes? But when I eat candy, I usually go for the tart stuff: Sour Patch Kids, Sweet Tarts, etc. So, finding a ripe fruit that is also tart is like hitting the jackpot. Here’s to my purple gems!!

P.S. I’ve been a bit crazed lately getting ready for this weekend’s second annual Harvest Share [ http://cherryhillna.org/ ], next weekend’s Cake-Off4Kids event [ http://cake4kids.org/CakeOff_2.html ] plus launching two major projects: a school-district-wide newsletter [ http://sesd-district-digest.org/ ] and my friend’s campaign website [ http://electreid.com/ ] – looking forward to a break sometime soon!