The Whole Grape.

In my Botanical Medicine class, we discussed how we've managed to find a healthy use for every part of the grape and have found many healthy products starting with grapes alone. Talk about a whole food; every aspect has been exploited to it's full health promoting potential. 

Image source here.

Whole Grape: The skin contains antioxidants, while the seeds contain phenols like tannins, flavonoids, and cyanin.

Dried Grapes (aka Raisins): 10% of the phenolic content of the fresh grapes. Flavinoids are maintained when grapes are dried.

Juice: Often used to sweeten other foods. More phenolic compounds and procyanidins compared to raisins.

Vinegar (aka Red Wine vinegar): The fermentation of grape juice creates acetic acid. 

Wine: Fermented grapes. Tannins are higher in red because the stems, seeds and skin are all included in the fermentation process of red wine only (how cool!). Some wine is aged in oak barrels, which adds even more tannin. Tannins make wine astringent (think mouth pucker).

Brandy: Distilled wine.

Cognac: A type of brandy found in the Cognac region of France.

Sherry: Wine that has been fortified with brandy after fermentation.

Port: Wine that has been fortified with brandy during fermentation. Often stored and aged in barrels. Overall contains more alcohol and sugar than Sherry.