In the EXBERRY® kitchen, color is treated the way chefs treat seasoning. It deepens the story, supports the flavor, and helps define the experience. Used thoughtfully, color amplifies an ingredient’s natural expression and connects the visual cue to the flavor you expect in the glass. This Scuppernong Shrub is a beverage innovation rooted in that approach, showing how natural color can be integrated as part of the recipe rather than layered on afterward.
The starting point was a local ingredient to our region: the scuppernong grape. Our Customer Experience Center in Dallas, North Carolina sits in the heart of Piedmont farmland, where food tradition, family history, and regional crops are tightly interwoven.
Muscadines are the native grapes of the American South, known for their thick skins and intensely aromatic flavor. Scuppernongs are the bronze-green variety of muscadine, the oldest cultivated grape in the country and North Carolina’s official state fruit. Their honeyed, floral character and warm golden hue make them a natural fit for modern beverage development.
Scuppernongs appear at farm stands, climb backyard fences, and anchor cherished seasonal recipes. In North Carolina, they’re typically harvested from August through September, when clustered bunches glow with a soft golden tone that signals late summer giving way to fall. Preserving that fleeting moment, both in flavor and appearance, became a meaningful starting point for this beverage innovation.
Forward-thinking by looking back
Living and working in North Carolina means our EXBERRY® chefs don’t just reference regional foodways. They live within them. Cookbooks like Vivian Howard’s Deep Run Roots capture how ingredients such as muscadines and scuppernongs carry memory, identity, and a sense of place. That lens helped shape this project and prompted a simple but meaningful question: how could an ingredient tied so closely to local culture be honored while still being reimagined for a modern, low-alcohol beverage experience?
The challenge was both technical and personal. It’s about celebrating regional tradition while creating a drink that feels contemporary, expressive, and rooted in craft.
The making of the shrub
The project began with a shrub base, which is a classic blend of fruit, sugar, and vinegar rooted in Southern preservation and embraced today for its bright acidity and nuanced flavor. Scuppernong grapes, sugar, white wine vinegar, and fresh thyme formed the foundation.
Over two weeks, gentle fermentation transformed the mixture from simple tart sweetness into something more complex: honeyed fruit balanced with bright acidity, subtle savory undertones, light tannin from the skins, and a soft herbal lift.
From there, the team refined the balance, adjusting sweetness and acidity, testing ratios to keep the scuppernong flavor centered, and ensuring the shrub stayed expressive in a finished serve without leaning too sweet or too sharp.
Real food, thoughtful color
With the flavor set, the team turned to the visual experience. In our culinary philosophy, color is part of the sensory build, used deliberately to reflect the ingredient’s natural cues and reinforce what the palate is about to experience.
Fresh scuppernongs hang in clustered bunches that radiate a warm, golden hue. That color signals ripeness, seasonality, and harvest. The shrub naturally carried some of that tone, but the team wanted to preserve and gently refine it, much like capturing the feeling of late summer in a glass.
To bring that visual cue into clearer focus, Chef Christina Olivarez incorporated EXBERRY® Shade Amber in light dosages, treating it exactly as she would any other ingredient. The goal was to support what was already there, shaping the color to echo what consumers expect from fresh white grape juice. The result is a soft, natural golden tone that feels familiar and grounded.
Because EXBERRY® colors are made from fruits, vegetables, and plants, they fit naturally into this approach. Shade Amber was incorporated during development to reinforce the drink’s overall sensory harmony and help preserve the sense of season that inspired it from the start.
A second color born from craft and sustainability
To introduce contrast and a touch of Southern craft, the team turned to the scuppernong skins. Instead of discarding them after pressing, they were dehydrated and finely ground, preserving their tannic structure and aromatic intensity.
These powdered skins were blended with EXBERRY® Shade Purple Plum to create a rim sugar that echoed the grape’s natural palette.
The result is a striking interplay: golden shrub in the glass, deep purple at the rim, and a tannic snap that complements the honeyed grape and thyme notes. It’s a sensory moment rooted entirely in the ingredient itself.
A taste of North Carolina
Served over ice with tonic water and a honey-dipped rim, the finished Scuppernong Shrub feels like a snapshot of North Carolina in a glass. Visually, the drink captures the soft amber hues of the grape and the deep purple of its skin, reinforcing how color can quietly enhance the experience when used with purpose.
Our Customer Experience Center was built to support exactly this kind of development: a space where customers can taste, experiment, and co-create alongside our teams.
Using regional ingredients to inspire modern beverage design
For product developers, the Scuppernong Shrub offers a clear example of ingredient-driven beverage development. Starting with a regional ingredient, building a thoughtful base, and using color to support the story allows flavor, seasonality, and place to lead. When color reinforces what’s already there, the result feels cohesive, sensory-rich, and grounded in authenticity.