Black Grapes

Dark purple, almost black grapes with the deepest flavour of the three we carry — more grape-juice sweetness and a firmer skin than the red or the green.

The firmer skin is useful: black grapes survive a lunchbox and a fruit platter better than the others, and they are the best of the three for roasting alongside meat, where they burst and turn into a sauce. They are also the sweetest, so they suit anyone who finds green grapes too sharp.

Judge them by the stem, which should be green and flexible, and by how firmly the fruit holds on. Colour is not a ripeness guide here — they are dark long before they are sweet.

Fridge, unwashed, loosely covered. Same rule as all grapes: wash at the point of eating, never before storing.

Seven to ten days refrigerated. They freeze well.