The raisin was discovered accidentally, many years before Christ. People ate grapes but did not know that if they were to dry the grape, it would become this useful and delicious dried fruit called the raisin. Historians claim that the Phoenicians and Armenians were the first nations to produce raisins. Phoenicians established vineyards in Spain and Greece that were fitting for cultivating raisins and the Armenians established their vineyards in Iran, Turkey and Iraq. The Greeks and Romans had a high demand for raisins and then other countries started to use raisins as well.

The grape is from the vitaceae family and has more than 800 varieties. The most common variety of grape is the vinifera. Grapes can be different colors, such as green, red, purple and yellow. Grapes can be eaten plain or processed into raisins, fruit juice and marmalade.