EMWTTSFM - Soon With Grafted Tomatoes. The Cotton Candy Grape Report.
Cotton Candy Grapes And Fresh Tomatoes
A reader stopped me last week, asking about Cotton Candy grapes. “Gary,” she said, “you write The Grape Report. Tell me the truth, are these things fake? Do they inject them with sugar?” It’s a question I get often, and the answer is one of my favorite stories in agriculture.
It’s because I have a personal relationship with Cotton Candy grapes and my dermatologist. And, I love tomatoes.
More than a decade ago, I had my annual checkup. A visit was required after growing up on a lake in Florida, where I rarely wore anything other than a bathing suit. Just like everyone in my family and the neighbors on either side, I attempted to prevent sunburn with Coppertone and used Noxzema to soothe the burn.
At some point during a dermatologist check-in, I said I’d just come from the nearby Kroger, where I’d bought groceries and a bag of something I’d never tasted before, Cotton Candy grapes. It took a while to convince the staff that such a thing existed, that it tasted just like cotton candy, was real, and was available at Kroger.
After my exam, which I failed, I immediately went to Kroger, bought a bag, took it back to the office, and said, “See for yourself. I’m telling the truth.” Their reaction announced a new relationship with me. I was the one who introduced them to cotton candy grapes. It was like giving candy to a child. My reputation and my actinic keratosis were cemented into their memories.
Since then, I’ve never had a problem getting an appointment. To the point that I’ve even gotten same-day appointments several times, as some patients have to wait months for a checkup. I’m guessing that when they hear my name, a Pavlovian response connects me to the sweetness of cotton candy, the grapes, and the joy of discovery of a new grape flavor.
Questions Answered
No, there are no needles or artificial flavors involved. Those grapes are the result of more than a decade of patient, old-fashioned plant breeding. A horticulturist plays matchmaker with thousands of grape varieties to create a new one with a truly unique, natural flavor.
Horticulturist David Cain led the development of the Cotton Candy grape, aiming to introduce new, exciting flavors to table grapes. Instead of using genetic engineering, he relied on traditional cross-pollination, manually transferring pollen between different grape varieties to combine desirable traits. After identifying a grape with a subtle spun-sugar flavor, he began an extensive breeding program. Over the course of more than ten years, Cain and his team evaluated over 100,000 hybrid seedlings through taste tests. Eventually, after approximately twelve years, they successfully created a grape with the distinctive flavor of cotton candy and the perfect firm, seedless texture of a commercial table grape.
This conversation about creating a “better” fruit was fresh in my mind when I ran and talked with a Johnstown farmer at the Saturday Market. He’s known for his tomatoes, firm, ripe, juicy, and large. But he was looking ahead to the winter with a mix of determination and worry. The soil in his high tunnel, a plastic-covered greenhouse that gives him a jump on the season, was getting tired, and he has not been satisfied with some of the tomatoes he grows. Years of growing tomatoes in the same spot meant soil-borne diseases were becoming a real threat to his most valuable crop.
And just like that, the two stories connected. While the Cotton Candy grape was born from hybridization, creating a new variety from two parents, my friend’s plan involves a different kind of plant magic, a technique that is both ancient and on the cutting edge: grafting. It’s a tiny plant surgery that allows him to build a single, super-powered tomato plant.
The concept is brilliant in its simplicity. You take the top part of the plant you love for its fruit, the scion, in this case, his flavorful but fragile heirloom. Then, you take the bottom part of a different tomato variety that has been bred for toughness, rather than taste, known as the rootstock. This rootstock is a beast, chosen for its robust root system and its natural resistance to the very diseases plaguing my friend’s soil.
When the seedlings are just a few weeks old, he will perform the procedure. With a sterile razor blade, he’ll make a clean, angled cut on both stems. Then, he’ll join the tasty top to the rigid bottom with a tiny clip, like putting a cast on a broken bone. The two halves fuse, healing into one plant. The result? He gets the incredible fruit from his heirloom, powered by the disease-fighting, nutrient-sucking engine of the rootstock.
This isn’t just a homesteader’s hobby; it’s a critical financial tool, and we need only look to Ohio’s own Amish communities to see its power. For years, Amish growers have been at the forefront of using high tunnels to maximize their yields. But planting in the same protected soil year after year is a recipe for disaster. Grafting provides an elegant, non-chemical solution. It allows them to reliably produce high-value, premium-priced heirlooms in the same tunnels, year after year, without losing their crops to wilt or rot. The increased vigor from the rootstock also means a larger harvest over a longer season, allowing them to reach market earlier and stay longer than field growers. For them, grafting isn’t a trick; it’s a cornerstone of their business model.
Once you know what to look for, you realize grafting is one of the most important, yet invisible, stories in our food system. It’s the secret behind nearly every piece of fruit in the orchard.
Most of the citrus fruit comes from trees grown on a healthy rootstock grafted onto an upper section cut from a citrus tree with the perfect fruit. My mother carried a knife, so no matter where we traveled, she could take cuttings from a plant she liked. Some would take root from the stem, while others need to be grafted onto an established bush or tree. That’s where the plentiful peach tree came from. A peach pit with an excellent root system now bears the spectacular free-stone peach grafted from a neighbor’s tree.
Think about apples. Every ‘Granny Smith’ apple you’ve ever eaten is a genetic clone of the original tree found in Australia in 1868. The only way to guarantee that specific tart, crisp flavor is to take a cutting (a scion) from a ‘Granny Smith’ tree and graft it onto a carefully chosen rootstock. That rootstock controls the tree’s final size, whether it becomes a dwarf tree for a backyard or a semi-dwarf for a commercial orchard, making harvesting far more efficient. The same is true for all our favorite fruits: peaches, pears, plums, and cherries. They are all grafted to ensure consistency, control size, and adapt a variety to a soil that its own roots couldn’t handle.
The technique even saved an entire industry. In the mid-19th century, a tiny American root louse called Phylloxera made its way to Europe and decimated the continent’s ancient vineyards. The European grapevines (Vitis vinifera) had no natural defense. The entire French wine industry was on the verge of collapse. The solution was a grafting Hail Mary: they began grafting their celebrated Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon scions onto the roots of wild American grape species, which were naturally resistant to the pest. To this day, virtually every wine grape in the world is grown on a grafted, pest-resistant rootstock.
And the practice doesn’t stop there. It’s now common for watermelons and cucumbers to be grafted onto squash rootstock to combat soil-borne diseases. In the world of ornamental plants, it’s how we get many of our most beautiful specimens.
The next time you bite into a crisp apple or a juicy tomato, give a little nod to the quiet, clever surgery that likely made it possible.
The Green Grape Report
Food Review by Gary Gardiner
Kroger - Schrock Road
Brand - Kroger-branded green grapes without a state of origin. Guessing California.
Price: $1.44 per pound.
Appearance - Bright color with no flaws.
Size - At 11.4 grams per grape, these are above average for the year. The average length, measured from ten grapes, is 34mm, with an average diameter of 20mm, slightly smaller than last week’s. The sugar content measures 20%, the highest since I began measuring several weeks ago.
Crispiness - Crisp and very juicy.
Taste - Sweet. Very sweet.
PLU Code - Not on the bag.
The Review
I bought more than four pounds of these grapes at the Kroger on Schrock Road. The flavor and crispness are near perfect. They are sugary and juicy.
And, despite the same grapes being marked at $2.49 at the Maxtown Road Kroger, these still had the $1.44 price sticker, and they rang at that price without difficulty. Prices were also higher in both major and minor triads and the outliers.
That’s why I bought more than four pounds at Kroger.
Grapes every day for the week! Plums were also marked down. If I weren’t doing a grape report, it would be plums. Or strawberries. Or grapefruit.
Keeping this short. There is an excessive amount of information above regarding grafting and hybridization.
This Week in Westerville (Sept 29–Oct 5, 2025)
Community events, concerts, sports, and family-friendly picks. Times are local (ET).
Monday, Sept 29
Family Storytime — 9:30–10:00 a.m., Westerville Public Library.
Homework Help Center — 4:00–7:00 p.m., drop-in, grades K–12, Westerville Public Library.
Library Tour for Families — 6:30–7:30 p.m., Westerville Public Library.
Make Your Own Papel Picado — all day, drop-in craft, Westerville Public Library.
Tuesday, Sept 30
Baby Storytime — 9:30–10:00 a.m., Westerville Public Library.
Homework Help Center — 4:00–7:00 p.m., drop-in, grades K–12, Westerville Public Library.
De-stress with Dogs (Ages 12–18) — 6:30–7:30 p.m., Westerville Public Library.
Make Your Own Papel Picado — all day, drop-in craft, Westerville Public Library.
Wednesday, Oct 1
Wizards & Wands Festival (opens for October) — Westerville Public Library. Free drop-in activities all month.
Thursday, Oct 2
Uptown Review Board — 6:30 p.m., Westerville Justice Center, 229 Huber Village Blvd.
Otterbein Theatre: Urinetown — 7:30 p.m., Cowan Hall.
Friday, Oct 3
Uptown Ghost Story Tours — 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. walking tours in Uptown (ticketed).
High School Football – 7:00 p.m. Kickoffs
Westerville North vs Westland — Home, WNHS Stadium, 950 County Line Rd.
Westerville South vs Delaware Hayes — Home, WSHS Stadium, 303 S. Otterbein Ave.
Westerville Central vs Grove City — Home, WCHS Stadium, 7118 Mount Royal Ave.
Otterbein Theatre: Urinetown — 7:30 p.m., Cowan Hall.
Saturday, Oct 4
Household Hazardous Waste Collection — 8:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., Public Service Complex, 350 Park Meadow Rd. Enter via Park Meadow from Schrock Rd.
Wizards & Wands Family Program — 10:00 a.m. Storybook Tales (Bright Star Theatre), Westerville Public Library.
Uptown Ghost Story Tours — 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Java Central: Long Tall Deb & Colin John — 7:00 p.m., 20 S State St.
Otterbein Theatre: Urinetown (Closing Night) — 7:30 p.m., Cowan Hall.
Sunday, Oct 5
Westerville Division of Fire Fall Open House — 1:00–4:00 p.m., Fire Station 111, 400 W. Main St. Meet the chiefs, tour the station, see equipment demos, test the squirt house; inflatables, giveaways, and seasonal treats.
Reptile Show: Paul’s Cool Scales — 2:00–3:00 p.m., Westerville Public Library.
Dahlia Fall Care — 2:00–3:00 p.m., Inniswood Metro Gardens, 940 S Hempstead Rd.
Westerville Weather this Week
The week starts warm and bright on Monday with sunshine and a high near 86, along with a light breeze from the east. The night cools down under partly cloudy skies, dipping to around 57. Tuesday keeps the sunshine going, reaching about 85 during the day, then slipping to 54 at night under mostly clear skies. By Wednesday, the temperature eases back a bit to around 81, with another clear, calm evening ahead in the low 50s.
Thursday and Friday bring more of the same—mostly sunny and pleasant, with highs in the upper 70s and nights cooling to the low 50s. The weekend looks great too: Saturday will be sunny with a high near 80, and Sunday follows suit with clear skies and a high around 81. Nights through the weekend stay mild, hovering in the low to mid-50s.
The Westerville News is a reader-supported publication by Gary Gardiner, a lifelong journalist who believes hyper-local reporting is the future of news. This publication focuses exclusively on Westerville—its local news, influence on Central Ohio, and how surrounding areas shape the community.
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