UF/IFAS Releases New Grape

Southern Jewel, the latest grape variety issued by the UF/IFAS, is high-yielding, disease resistant and produces fruit in big bunches. IFAS developmental biology professor Dennis Gray, who led the team that created the new muscadine variety, says the new grape has been in the works since 1994.
It is Gray’s second grape cultivar release. The first was “Delicious,” also issued this year. Southern Jewel is the 19th grape cultivar created by UF researchers.
In this month’s issue of the journal HortScience, Gray describes Southern Jewel as having “an excellent taste and a crunchy texture with a palatable skin, making it well-suited for fresh fruit consumption.”
Southern Jewel, created with traditional plant-breeding techniques, was grown and compared with other muscadine varieties at the Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, starting in 2002.Its ability to produce fruit in bunches made it stand out, Gray said.
“Muscadines typically make very small clusters, maybe just four or five berries,” he said. “This one can make more than 12, sometimes 16 berries on a cluster.”
That allows growers to harvest the grapes by cutting the stem of the cluster rather than picking individual berries, he said. Researchers don’t yet know how much of an advantage that might be, he added.
Southern Jewel is an open release by UF, which means any grower should eventually be able to grow the plant once nursery owners have enough established plants to sell.