bullet grape

bullet grape n Also ~ (Georgia) bullet [By folk-etym from bullace n 2] S Atl Cf bull grape n

= muscadine (grape) n.

[1803 Med. Repository 1.22, Bull-grape, Vitis taurina of Bartram, Vit. vulpina of Linnæus and Walter. This excellent grape is called by the inhabitants of Georgia, Carolina and Florida, Bull-grape. [Footnote:] Mr. Bartram lately informed me that the word bull is an abbreviation of bullet; the grapes being so called from their approaching nearly the size of a bullet.] Ibid 23, Thus it appears to me that we have in the United States four species of Vitis or grape vines, viz. . . 3. V. taurina, bullet-grape. 1829 S. Agriculturist 2.499 NC, Certainly the sea-board of those States [=South Carolina and Georgia] must differ vastly from that of North-Carolina, if they do not abound in the Fox, Muscadine and Bullet Grape. 1859 (1880) Darlington Amer. Weeds 84, Vulpine or Foxy Vitis. Fox-Grape, of the Southern States; also called “Muscadine,” and “Bullet- or Bull-Grape.” 1860 Weekly Std. (Raleigh NC) 18 Jan [3]/5 (newspaperarchive.com), We showed these vines to a botanist. . . He informs us that they are styled citis [sic] rotundifolia, the same species as the scuppernong white, waccamaw black, the common bullet grape found throughout the South. 1907 Jacobs Sinful 47 SC, But the surest sign of them all was the muscadines that Sinful brought—the bullet grapes. 1966 DARE Tape SC12, But, they must not have been bulletses [sic], bulletses—I reckon they call ’em bullets because they’s hard as a marble until after frost. 1970 DARE (Qu. I46) Inf FL49, Bullet grapes. 1994 Bolton Gal 14 seSC [Black], They’re like a grape but we call them bullets—they are green, they got that tough green skin. 2002 in 2016 DARE File—Internet seFL, What is a chilled Georgia Bullet? . . Finally remembered the name of this ethnic “treat” that is found on the back of pick up trucks in the black areas of South Florida. 2009 Ibid seFL [Black], We started talking about sea grapes. Well, as it turns out the younger generation know them as Georgia Bullets. . . Apparently, they are sold at corner stores and make shift stands in Miami as Georgia Bullets. Funny, I’ve never seen them in Georgia under either name. 2015 Ibid neFL, Her hobbies and past-times included sewing, cooking, canning, picking oranges and bullet grapes.