Looks like NPR discovered “grapples” — the curiously grape-flavored apple. Come on NPR, where’ve you been? Obviously not my local Upstate New York grocery store 4 years ago. (I’ve never had one but I wouldn’t mind a taste test.)

npr:

There is no escaping artificial flavor. It’s everywhere, and the people who invent it argue that it will enhance your experience of a food — making it more tropical, more floral, or more bitter, in a good way.

Artificial flavors of familiar favorites also have long tricked kids into eating things they think they don’t like. That’s part of the idea behind the Grapple (pronounced gray-pull), an apple product sold in grocery stories. The Grapple wears an aromatic disguise, thanks to “a relaxing bath” in natural and artificial Concord grape flavors. That is, it’s an apple that tastes like a grape. — Eliza Barclay