Description
Gum Drops is not a grape variety but a brand that the Grapery in California uses for a run of flavoured table grapes bred by International Fruit Genetics. The season opens with Candy Snaps (IFG Twenty-one), a small, very early, seedless red grape with a strawberry-like blend of muscat and labrusca flavours, followed by the larger, light red, seedless Candy Hearts (IFG Nineteen) and the reddish-black Candy Dreams.
Characteristics
Brand, not a cultivar; table grapes bred by International Fruit Genetics; Candy Snaps (IFG Twenty-one): small red, seedless, very early, strawberry-like flavour; Candy Hearts (IFG Nineteen): large light red, seedless, mid to late season, muscat-labrusca flavour; Candy Dreams (IFG Twenty-two): reddish black
Growing Tips
These are patented varieties licensed to commercial farms; a US court order in a case brought by IFG notes that its licences forbid passing vines or cuttings to third parties, so legitimate garden plants are not on sale. In patent trials near Delano the vines were very productive, with Candy Snaps ripening in July and Candy Hearts in September.