Cotton Candy Grapes Are The One Food You Didn't Know You Needed In Your Life

The irrepressible urge to tinker with perfectly good food has struck again. Cotton candy grapes exist, and yes, they're meant to taste like everyone's favorite fluffy carnival treat — only without the fabulous, colorful presentation of spun sugar. Needless to say, the Internet is eating them up.

The grapes, distributed by the Grapery, have been around for about five years now. "These grapes aren't... like the fluffy stuff you munched on back in the day," explains the Grapery website. "But they're just as sweet — and much juicier."

Believe it or not, Cotton Candy Grapes were developed by horticulturalist David Cain through surprisingly conventional means: plant breeding. According to NPR, despite the incredibly artificial nature of cotton candy itself, the Cotton Candy grape was created without engineering or artificial flavors; instead, Cain and his team hybridized two different grape species to create the naturally sweet fruit. When it comes to sugary deliciousness, human ingenuity clearly knows no bounds.

Since they hit the market in 2011, Cotton Candy grapes have proved remarkably popular for a flavor of fruit. Unfortunately, their season is remarkably short, from Aug. 10 to Sep. 20 — which may be why the Internet is raving about the fruit again lately.

Back in 2013, Cain told NPR he created the variety of grape not out of any particular obsession with cotton candy, but out of a desire to expand the types of grapes available in stores. While there are plenty of apple flavors out there, the same kind of variety simply doesn't exist with grapes — although he's doing his best to change that.

If you're dying to try the sweet fruit, you may want to hurry. According to the New York Daily News, they have been flying off the shelves on the East Coast this year.

Fortunately, the Grapery has a list on its website of stores carrying their products in each state. Even if you can't get your hands on the Cotton Candy grape this year, you can always hold out for 2018. Anticipation makes sweet things that much sweeter.