Skip to main content

Taffy Grapes: A Simple Yet Tasty South Side Treat



Taffy grapes are a relatively new but no less delicious phenomenon on the Chicago food scene. Taffy grapes are green seedless grapes dipped in white chocolate or almond bark and sprinkled with chopped nuts. They taste exactly like taffy apples, which is why they're called taffy grapes.  

According to the Chicago Tribune, taffy grapes have been around since about 2011. The exact origins of the dessert aren’t clear, but they started popping up at stores and restaurants on the South Side, eventually spreading out to the West Side and south suburbs. Even barbershops and nail salons started selling containers of this sweet treat.


Taffy grapes can be found at establishments like Harold’s Chicken, Baba’s Famous Steak and Lemonade, Sharks Fish & Chicken, and Nadia’s Gourmet Grapes, which offers over 30 different varieties of topped grapes, including red velvet and cookies and cream.


Here’s a recipe for classic taffy grapes that originally appeared in The Takeout. I used white almond bark, which has vanilla flavoring. In case you were wondering, almond bark is a candy coating made with vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, and white chocolate is made with cocoa butter but no cocoa solids. The choice of which one to use is up to you. Whichever coating you use, this simple 3-ingredient recipe is sure to be a hit at your next gathering.



Taffy Grapes

Makes about 50 grapes

  • 4 oz. white almond bark or white chocolate

  • 1-2 bunches of large green seedless grapes

  • 3 oz. chopped peanuts

Wash the grapes and pat them dry with a paper towel, then freeze for a few minutes to firm them up. Fill a shallow dish with a layer of chopped peanuts and set aside.

Melt the almond bark or white chocolate in the microwave or over the stove according to the package's directions. Remove grapes from freezer and pat again to make sure they’re dry, otherwise the candy coating won’t stick. Working quickly, dip the top half of each grape into the topping, then roll it in the chopped peanuts to coat. Lay on wax paper to set. Once you’ve dipped as many grapes as you like and they’ve all had a chance to set on the wax paper, place them in a wax-paper-lined container and store in the fridge. They should keep for 2-3 days.

Sources:


Marnie Sure, “Taffy grapes are Chicago’s finest dessert sold by the tub,The Takeout (April 16, 2021).


Cheryl V. Jackson, “Taffy grapes: South side treats that sell out daily are spreading across Chicago,” Chicago Tribune (June 28, 2017).


Eng and David Hammond, Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites, 3 Fields Books (University of Illinois), 2023.


Gina Lavecchia Ragone, “How Taffy Grapes Became a Chicago Favorite,Mashed (February 3, 2023).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Chicago-Style Bloody Mary for the City's Most Famous Ghost

There's a special tradition at Chet's Melody Lounge, a neighborhood bar located on Archer Avenue across the street from Resurrection Cemetery in southwest suburban Justice. Every Sunday, the bartender makes a bloody mary and leaves it in front of an open stool at the end of the bar. The seat and drink are reserved for none other than Resurrection Mary, Chicago's most famous ghost. I'll give you a recipe for a special Chicago-style bloody mary that you can use to make your own offering to this legendary ghost, but first here's a little more about Resurrection Mary. Chicagoans from all walks of life know about this vanishing hitchhiker ghost who haunts Archer Avenue and surrounding areas. Various songs have been written about her,* and her story was even featured on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" in 1994.  The most common Resurrection Mary story goes something like this: A driver picks up a young woman in a white dress, often after a dance. When the car ...

The Simple Secret Behind Portillo's Famous Chocolate Cake

Chicago-based fast food chain Portillo's is known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and, somewhat unexpectedly, its chocolate cake. While it's not exactly typical fast food fare, Portillo's chocolate cake has garnered a devoted following. But what makes the cake so popular? According to the book Iconic Chicago Dishes, Drinks and Desserts , Portillo’s uses a well-known brand of cake mix plus mayonnaise. Many copycat recipes for this cake posted on the internet also use these same ingredients, so the secret is out.  Portillo's got its start i n 1963 when Dick Portillo opened a fast food stand in Villa Park out of a small trailer he named "The Dog House." The trailer didn't have a bathroom and got its running water from a garden hose hooked up to a neighboring building. Today there are more than 70 Portillo’s locations across Chicagoland and the U.S., none of them in trailers. Portillo’s added chocolate cake to its menu during its earl...

Pullman Bread: A Slice of the Past

Light, fluffy Pullman bread hearkens back to the days of luxury travel on Chicago's Pullman railcars in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the bread was a staple of the fine cuisine served in Pullman’s chandeliered dining cars. The Chicago-based Pullman company favored the use of a special rectangular bread pan with a sliding flat lid that was compact and easy to store on the train cars. Even though this type of pan was already being used in the baking world to make pain de mie sandwich bread, it became so closely associated with Pullman trains that it came to be known as the Pullman pan. Bread baked in this type of pan was ideal for use in Pullman kitchens because both the bread and the pans stacked well and made for an efficient use of space.  Bakers use the Pullman pan today to bake soft sandwich bread with an even crumb, a fine texture, and minimal crust.  The Pullman Palace Car Company was founded in 1867 by George Pullman with the goal of making train travel a more co...