Why Sam's Club's Unusual Grapes Have Shoppers Excited

If you think you should probably eat more fruit, but it's just too, you know, fruit-like, then you're probably all over the food trend of fruits that are flavored to taste like something else. One of the first of these was the Grapple, a grape-flavored apple developed nearly 20 years ago in an attempt to get kids to eat more fruit (via NPR). More recently, the good folks at berry grower Driscoll's R&D team (nicknamed the Joymakers, according to Business Insider) brought us raspberries and strawberries specially bred to taste like rosé wine in an obvious ploy to get grownups to eat more fruits, too. (Vegetable growers take note – could it be possible to breed, say, a vodka-flavored tomato?)

One fruit that lends itself particularly well to – well – tasting like other things, is the grape, which is kind of funny when you consider that the whole flavored fruit thing kicked off with an apple that was meant to mimic the taste of grapes. Still, the Los Angeles Times reports that there is now a wide array of grapes available in supermarkets that owe their enhanced flavoring to selective breeding, including Gum Drops, Candy Hearts, and Cotton Candy varieties.

If you're a fan of flavored grapes, then you'll definitely want to bust out your Sam's Club membership card (or break down and buy a membership if you've been holding out so far) and head on over to this big-box bargain-palooza. Sam's is all over the enhanced grape thing: they've got your Gum Drops, your Candy Hearts, your mega-popular Cotton Candy Grapes (with an "amazing flavor like spun sugar") of course, and now – wait for it – Sam's has the exclusive (at present) rights to sell grapes that taste like grape soda!

Wait, what? Grapes that taste like grape? Well, yes, only with an all-natural hint of artificial flavoring to fool your taste buds into thinking you're really back on that all-junk-food diet when in fact, you're sneaking in some actual fruit again. If you want to see what all the hype is about, you better act fast since Taste of Home says these grapes are selling out pretty quickly. If you miss out, though, go ahead and pick up some regular old green grapes, and also a few limes, and you can DIY some grapes that taste (sort of) like Sour Patch Kids. Ha, take that, fruit-flavored fruit!