In September, we purchased a thousand pounds of delicious muscadine grapes to serve at lunch at 24 schools!
Muscadines grow in the wild here in North Central Florida – and all over the southeast US. They are much smaller (but delicious) and help support a variety of wildlife, including deer, raccoons, and squirrels. Native Americans ate them, and early European immigrants began cultivating them.
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Native grape growing in nearby woods
Laray Thompson, of Thompson Nursery and Vineyard in Valrico grew ours. Before she became a grower, she was a teacher and was thrilled to know that her grapes would be heading to our food hub to be repacked by students for students.
To encourage students to give them a try, the Food and Nutrition department created educational signage for the lunch line as well as trading cards for elementary students to bring home with them.
A lot of students tried this local gem of a fruit for the first time this week. We are working on persimmons, another Florida native, for October’s Harvest of the Month.
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Lake Forest student likes grapes!
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Lincoln students enjoyed them too!