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

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...

Green River: The Chicago-Made Soda with the "Bubbling Snappiness" of Champagne

It has a distinct lime flavor and color. It was once the second most popular soda in the Midwest. There's a rock song named after it. What is it? Green River soda, of course. Chicago-based Schoenhofen Edelweiss Brewing Company, maker of Edelweiss beer, bought the recipe and sales rights for Green River from Davenport, Iowa, businessman Richard C. Jones in 1919. Jones, the owner of a candy store with a soda fountain, had created Green River several years earlier. Jones wanted to create a soft drink with the “bubbling snappiness" of champagne and decided that lime flavor was the way to go. A local teenager was the first to use the name “Green River” when he ordered the drink at Jones's soda fountain and the name stuck. During the Prohibition years (1920-1933), breweries were turning to manufacturing and selling non-alcoholic goods like soda, yeast, malt syrup, carbonated coffee and tea, and ice cream. Once Schoenhofen Edelweiss started making and distributing Green River, ...

Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

Search This Blog