Muscadine Grape

A natural history

The muscadine is the South's own grape, a thick skinned native that thrives in the heat and humidity where delicate wine grapes fail. Generations of Southern families have gathered it for wine, jellies, and pies, and its best loved form, the bronze gold scuppernong, is so cherished it was named a state fruit. For a Mississippi brand, it is very much a hometown ingredient.

That tough, deeply colored skin is the secret. It is there, in the skins and seeds, that the muscadine stores an exceptional wealth of antioxidant polyphenols, among them resveratrol and ellagic acid. On Roanoke Island grows a scuppernong said to be some four hundred years old, the storied Mother Vine, still bearing fruit, a living reminder of how long this grape has been treasured.

What it does for your skin

The muscadine is unusually rich in antioxidant polyphenols, concentrated in its skins and seeds. In cosmetic research, muscadine polyphenols, full of ellagic acid and proanthocyanidins, were stabilized for topical use and helped calm a pigment producing enzyme in testing, pointing toward a more even looking complexion.^[1] Chemical analysis confirms the grape's remarkable antioxidant strength.^[2] In a formula it works as an antioxidant rich botanical that helps defend the look of skin against everyday stress. That defending, tone-evening action is documented in cosmetic laboratory research.

References