The Mutation That Made White Grapes
Wild grapes weren’t for humans.
They were packed with seeds and extremely sour. Birds ate them. Mammals ate them. Early humans might have collected a few, but these weren’t really crops.¹ They were forest plants that climbed trees to reach sunlight, producing dark berries that attracted wildlife to spread their seeds.²
The wild ancestor of today’s table grapes, Vitis vinifera subspecies sylvestris (I couldn’t pronounce this to save my life), is dioecious. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants.³ The berries are tiny. Acid levels are high. You can eat them, but they taste like disappointment.
Domestication changed that.
