Cotton Candy grapes look like the old translucent, yellow-green orbs long common to children’s lunchboxes, cheese plates and grocery-store aisles. But take a bite and you’ll experience an explosion of carnival-treat-like sweetness.

When it comes to shopping — grocery shopping, that is — they’re this season’s It item.

Merchants from fancy new FiDi food hall Le District to delivery service FreshDirect to Wegmans say customers are gobbling up the grapes, which aren’t genetically modified but are rather the product of years of cross-pollination among varieties to create uniquely sweet bunches. Even the fact that the Cotton Candy orbs cost significantly more than standard varieties — $4.99 per pound at FreshDirect (compared to $3.99) and a whopping $8.99 per pound at Le District — isn’t a deterrent.

“Our retail customers would tell you it’s the most exciting thing in fresh produce . . . The word of mouth just continues to go crazy,” says Jim Beagle, the CEO of Grapery, the California company that’s the exclusive grower of the grapes in the US and is a partner in the breeding company that holds a patent on the fruit. “[Last month], I could go on Twitter anytime around the clock and in three minutes someone was tweeting about them . . . it’s been hard to keep up with demand.”

The social-media madness has extended to Instagram, where a search for the hashtag “#cottoncandygrapes” yields more than 14,000 results and enthusiastic captions like “Holy Crap! These Grapes really do taste like Cotton Candy” and “Victory is mine! Muahahaha I found the last bag and you know I scooped that right up!”

The excitement is translating into big sales. There’s been a “huge lift” in demand this season, says FreshDirect produce merchant Eric Stone. Although the fruit was first sold commercially in limited quantities in 2013, this year, Stone says, “there’s more availability, more awareness.”

In the past two years, Beagle says Grapery — which produces a number of novel varieties, including Gum Drops and Witch Fingers — has increased production by four to five times to satisfy the hunger for their Cotton Candy offerings.

FreshDirect is such a big believer in the grape that they sent out free samples to about 1,000 customers in early August to entice them.

“We really want people into these grapes,” says Stone. “We think that they’re unique and extremely flavorful . . . it’s like the Honeycrisp apple of the season.”

And, at Wegmans, spokeswoman Jeanne Colleluori says, “We had people asking for them before they arrived.”

Yet, for all their popularity, not everyone is a fan. Like other major issues of the day — from what color “the Dress” is to whether Taylor Swift is using her power for good or annoyance — the grapes are divisive.

One recent devotee from Brooklyn raved about them as a healthy substitute for dessert while others regarded them with trepidation.

“It feels wrong, like something a James Bond villain would create,” said a detractor from Westchester.

As for me, I agree that they taste like cotton candy, but I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Both the fruit and the carnival treat assault the mouth with sugar, like a sticky, hyperactive toddler running wild and screaming maniacally. Nibbling on them, I couldn’t help but wish they had the tangy complexity of another candy-like grape: the Concord variety.

And can a fruit that tastes like candy really be healthy? Beagle says they have “slightly more sugar” than a typical grape, but are still in the range of normal.

Amy Shapiro, a registered dietitian and nutritionist and founder of Real Nutrition NYC in the Flatiron, agrees. She says that because Cotton Candy grapes aren’t genetically modified, “they definitely have the anti-oxidants, the water, the fiber content and the anti-inflammatory properties” of less sweet varieties. But she recommends any grape “with a bit of hesitation” to clients — “only because people like them so much [that they eat too many],” she says.

Still, overall, she’s positive on the trendy produce.

“For people trying to live a healthy life, finding a sweet fruit that can curb your sweet tooth is a benefit, as long as it’s portion controlled,” she says, recommending two to three servings of fruit a day for most clients. (She considers a cup of grapes a serving.)



We got lucky it tastes like cotton candy. - Jim Beagle, Grapery CEO

Nature will soon do the portion controlling for you. The grapes have a short season and are only available from mid-August to mid- to late September.

“It’s a difficult grape to grow compared to others,” says Beagle, explaining that they must be harvested by hand after close visual inspection to ensure that each cluster is perfectly ripe. If they’re picked at the wrong time, they don’t taste like cotton candy.

And even that fact was something of an accident.

“We weren’t trying to make cotton candy, just great-tasting grapes,” says Beagle. “We got lucky it tastes like cotton candy.”

The Grape Debate

How the public reacted in Times Square …

Carrie Alderink, 43, Michigan

“They’re really good and really sweet! I do not think they taste like cotton candy, though. It would not be a regular purchase but a treat for my family.”

Owen Alderink, 11, Michigan

“At first it tastes like cotton candy, but then the taste fades away. I would want my mom to buy it.”

Bianca Printemps, 21, Brooklyn

“I think they are cotton-candy-covered grapes, because they taste like cotton candy, but once you bite into it, it tastes like a regular grape.”

Ryan Schwartz, 29, Teaneck, NJ

“These grapes are absolutely delicious. I would buy them. For $8.99 a pound, I would buy them for a special night. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Anthony Bova, 58, Manhattan

“Wow, I never heard of this before! It has a sweet, tender taste to it. It is like a sweet tomato. This is a nice surprise!”

— Tashara Jones