Upstate New York Festival Honors A Food You May Have Never Heard Of

In the Upstate New York village of Naples, there is a festival you may have never heard of.

Naples New York is known by many as the ‘Grape Pie Capital of the World’ and home to the annual Historic Naples Grape Festival. Have you ever heard of Grape Pie before today?

Grape pie is a type of fruit pie made from Concord grape and is part of harvest time traditions in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States."

Grape Pie was a huge part of the traditional cuisine of German immigrants to our region of Upstate New York. According to experts at Wikipedia, Grape Pie is represented at Old Economy, home of a group of communal German immigrants founded in 1824.

The pie-making is a "very long process" and includes "skinning the grape, cooking the pulp and separating out the seeds."

The Spruce Eats describes it as a juicy, sweet, and tart pie. It has a rich purple color and texture similar to blueberry pie. Have you ever heard of this pie before?

Info On The 2022 Historic Naples Grape Festival

This year’s 2022 festival takes place from September 24th - September 25th along the town of Naples North Main Street from 10AM - 5PM both days. The fair features many food vendors, wine makers, artisan booths, a beverage garden, and multiple music acts too. According to New York Upstate, previous events have featured grape lemonade, grape slushies, grape ice cream, grape bread, grape bars, and of course signature grape pies.

The grape fest also holds the “World’s Greatest Grape Pie” Contest. Aspiring and accomplished pie bakers will compete for the best jammy pastry in all the land. If you want to check out the contenders, head to the front lawn of the Memorial Town Hall at noon on Saturday the 24 and watch the winner be crowned."

Go sample some and crown the champion this year.