657676 Tue Oct 06 23:47:38 -0700 2009 2 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 5084625 Lately Berkeley Bowl has had a huge selection of grapes so I’ve tried about a dozen varieties. However, the best grapes I had were Autumn Royal grapes sold by Woodside Farms at the Sunday San Rafael Civic Center Farmers market. These huge purple seedless grapes are crisp, sweet, juicy and full of flavor Do not confuse with Summer Royal which look similar but have a little bitterness to them. Woodside also had some nice tiny seedless Black Beauty grapes. They also had my previous favorite from Berkeley Bowl which are large, juicy and sweet green grapes with lots of crunch. Today Berkeley Bowl’s best were large red Holiday grapes, Kioho grapes and Merlot. Other grapes included Autumn King, Kyoho, Peony, Ribier, Superior, Concord, Black Globe, Red Globe, Temparillo, Superior, Red Flame, Crimson, black seedless, and plain old Thomson ... of course there are both conventional and organic versions. Anyway, the Bowl has the largest selection currently. The grapes at the farmers markets are mainly Thomson seedless, Crimson and black seedless. Monterey Market only had a handful of varieties. Anyone else have some recommendations? Tue Oct 06 23:47:39 -0700 2009 10264 rworange 1 5085129 The best I've had are muscat grapes. Often they're underripe, they should be golden rather than green. I've found ripe ones occasionally at the Bowl. Wed Oct 07 07:36:43 -0700 2009 5084625 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 5085781 I haven't really tried a lot of varieties of grapes because I've been a longtime fan of red flame seedless from the Central Valley. I've been munching on some all week from a bunch I bought at the Market Hall grocer in Rockridge. They're so perfectly crunchy and sweet. So far only the ones I bought at Market Hall tastes the best. (Others seem not as crunchy.) This is the best time for this variety of grape! Wed Oct 07 11:01:11 -0700 2009 5084625 43882 singleguychef