What is the difference between scuppernong, bullace and muscadine grapes?

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Question What is the difference between scuppernong, bullace and muscadine grapes?

Answer Bjarni Herjulfson and Leif Ericson discovered America around 1000 AD. Leif called it Vinland (or Vineland). Sir Walter Raleigh's explorers wrote in 1584, "The coast of North Carolina was so full of grapes that the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them. In all the world, a similar abundance was not to be found." The grape which these explorers had found was the native American grape, Vitis rotundifolia, commonly known as the muscadine.

Early American settlers were familiar with the muscat grape, which is a French grape used in Europe to make muscatel wine. The word muscat derives from the Latin muscus, which describes the smell of a male musk deer. The American version of the muscat name eventually morphed into muscadine.

One of the native American grapes was a bronze color. For years it was called the “Big White Grape.” Cuttings of the “Big White Grape” were taken during the 17th and 18th centuries. These vines were planted around a small town in North Carolina named Scuppernong. The name Scuppernong originally comes from an Algonquin Indian name for the sweet bay tree - Ascopo. Ascupernung, meaning place of the Ascopo, appears on early maps of North Carolina as the name of a river in Washington County that flows into the Albemarle Sound. By 1800 the spelling of the river had become Scuppernong. Soon the name of the town and river came to be applied to the grapes grown in the area. In this roundabout fashion, scuppernong became the name for the “Big White Grape.”

Bullis, bullace, bullet grape and bull grape are very old names for dark-fruited muscadines. The name "Bull" grape may have derived from a comparison between the grapes and a cow’s eye. "Bullace" may have been a reference to the resemblance of the dark grape and a European plum of the same name.

Muscadine grapes can be found in both bronze (white) or black varieties. Scuppernong and bullace are merely common names referring to bronze or black muscadines. Modern muscadine varieties for home gardens include Magnolia (white), Nesbitt (black), Carlos (white) and Noble (black).

For more info about grapes, visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8203.html If you do not have access to the internet, then call the Extension Office at 893-7533 or email me at gpierce@harnett.org

Resveratrol is a chemical found in all muscadine grapes and wine. Go to http://web.med.harvard.edu/sites/RELEASES/html/11_1Sinclair.html for the latest study examining the benefits of muscadine grapes. Here is another reason to drink muskrat wine (lets see if we can change the name again over the next 200 years).

Gary L. Pierce

Horticulture Extension Agent

Harnett County