The round, amber-green scuppernong grape is larger than the familiar, plump, purple grocery store variety. The berry, native to the American South, has been the state fruit of North Carolina since 2001. Scuppernongs – a kind of muscadine grape with a thick, speckled skin and a saccharine center – get their name from the Scuppernong River that curls through Tyrell and Washington Counties in North Carolina. The word scuppernong derives from the Algonquian “askuponong,” and refers to “the place of the sweet bay tree.”