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Yesterday I was running an errand at Whole Foods and as always, even if I don’t have much time, I can’t help glancing at what they have in the vegetable and fruit section.

And yesterday I spotted these: scuppernongs.

I had no idea what they were, had never seen them before and a quick check on my WordReference iPhone app returned nothing. That didn’t stop me, of course. I had to try these.

At first, they looked to me like greenish Mirabelles.
Unfortunately, they are not (we like mirabelles, hence the unfortunately) but the scuppernongs are quite original:

North Carolina designated the Scuppernong grape as the official state fruit in 2001. A scuppernong is a large variety of muscadine (a type of grape native to southeastern U.S.). The grape was named after the Scuppernong River of North Carolina, where it was first discovered. The word Scuppernong is from the Algonquian Indian word ascopo which means “sweet bay tree.”

Scuppernong grapes are usually greenish or bronze in color, similar in appearance and texture to a white grape, but rounder and about 50% larger. The skin is very thick and tart and several small green seeds are found in each grape. The pulp is viscous and sweet and the seeds are bitter – the most desirable part of the scuppernong is the sweet juice.

They taste a bit like Muscat grapes, but are bigger.

I saw several recipes on the Internet to make jelly using scuppernong, but I wanted cake. So I looked into some of the recipes I had that could be adapted and here we are.

The following recipe is inspired by and adapted from this recipe over at Clea Cuisine.

So you will need:

– 2 + 1/4 cups of old-fashioned oats
– 1 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
– 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp cane sugar
– 2 tsp vanilla extract
– 3 oz almond butter
– 1.8 oz olive oil
– 1/4 cup plain yogurt
– about 1 lb scuppernongs

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.

2. In a big bowl, mix together the oats, the flour and the sugar.

3. Add the almond butter, the oil, the vanilla extract and the yogurt. Mix well.

4. Put 2/3 of the batter in a square or rectangular mold covered with parchment paper.

5. Cut the scuppernongs in half and take away the seeds.

6. Line the scuppernongs on top of the batter, in the mold.

7. Cover the scuppernongs with the batter left.

8. Bake during 35 minutes.

9. Let cool.

10. Cut into bars and enjoy!

The scuppernongs have both a tart and sweet taste that goes well with the almond butter and the oats. The bar is also a little melted-like in the middle, where the grapes are.