Muscadines are a type of thick-skinned grape native to the Southeastern U.S., where they grow rampant on suburban arbors in early fall. They're as taut and round as vending machine gumballs, ranging in hue from a deep, wine-y purple to a flecked coppery green (these ones are called scuppernongs). Their skins are thick, almost leathery, and when you bite down on them the gummy interior pops out into your mouth. The skins are nicely acidic (some people spit them out, but what a waste!) and the insides are cool and sweet and very fruity, though pitted with two to four bitter seeds. All in all, muscadines bear about as much resemblance to standard seedless grapes as kiwis to cabbages.
Muscadines are commonly fermented into a sweet wine, or boiled down to jelly. In North Carolina, muscadine pie - grape innards cooked with sugar and lemon juice to make a soft, jammy filling - is an old-fashioned treat.
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