Grape or raisin? There's only one way to reliably test - munch on it.
For the end of experiment summary, please see eating the grape. Apologies for the blurry photograph. The exhilaration of finishing half a year's worth of hardcore science project was just too much to keep the camera steady.

The hour has come. Externally, the grape now bears a strong, if not perfect resemblance, to a raisin, but what of its innards? Do ex-grapes still bleed green?

Apparently not. It may be hard to make out, but this is the experimental subject chopped into two halves. The innards have solidified into a very dark brown continuous mass, with a sticky glistening to it. It is slightly tacky to the touch and leaves a faint brown residue if pressed into paper. It is the first sign of raisin "juiciness" witnessed as yet.

Context is king. This picture is here for comparative reasons. From left to right we have a shop-purchased raisin, the experimental ex-grape itself and a shop-bought currant.

Day 184: 03/12/06 22:02. Well, this scientific exploration has been going on for more than half a year now. All good things have to come to an end. Following audience encouragement, and a brief near-suicidal moment of sheer horror as the experimental exhibit A (former grape) could not be found for a few minutes, the decision has been made to call a halt to it.

From visual inspection, you will see that it looks pretty much the same as it did 121 days ago, which is more than can be said for the Poorhouse. It's still rather too big for your average raisin, but its colouring is spot on. Amazingly, no mould has formed on it, just smatterings of hairy dust from the place under the bed where it last fell.

Day 63: 4/8/06 17:35. Another couple of weeks on and the object d'art is looking...pretty much the same. Hmm. Is this the end of the road? Is this what a fresh homemade non-packed-and-sent-around-the-world-twelve-times raisin looks like? It seems increasingly likely.

The only thing that can be reported really is that whilst caressing the Poorhouse protege it was determined that it felt more like a raisin than previously. 'twas a bit more solid, and the folds and grooves were somewhat more resistant to pressure.

Is the end nigh?

Day 49: 21/7/06 08:31. 10 days later, not that much change. But this could be because it has actually pretty much turned into a raisin? It is dark and crumpled like most raisins are, but somehow seems a bit too baggy.

However it is possible that as the Poorhouse has only really seen raisins that have been mashed together and heavily compacted in bags for dirty great supermarkets, this is their normal state. Some research will be done to compare what we have created in this grape-lab to a standard raisin in order to determine the next action. It is quite possible that the Great Day Of Tasti

Day 39: 11/7/06 18:07. The grape, if anything, is more raisinish coloured than ever. In fact if it was down a dark alleyway it may even pass for one.

The dehydrated sagginess is continuing, pushing it further into the withered goodness of the snack. A slight matt-shininess is to be seen. And, best of all, that bit of mould must have been a speck of dust, as there is none to be seen at the present time.

Day 32: 4/7/06 17:35. Ooh, is that some true full scale rasin colour we see? Perhaps so. Now the fruit resembles a deflated brown bag, with a somewhat leathery hide. New doubts enter the Poorhouse's mind about when the experiment is over how tempting it will actually be to eat. Concerns are not helped by the appearance of a speck of what could be white mould centre-grape.

Although not being one to shy away from eating sweets that fell on the ground weeks ago and have been several-times urinated on by four legged beasts, it is as yet more than copable with.

Day 22: 23/06/06 18:17. Just like many avid viewers of the grape-raisin extravaganza, the grape has deflated somewhat, hopefully preparing to enter the crinkled-goodness appearance of a raisin. It is going increasingly brown. Rather ominously, the underlying foil appears to have vanished, perhaps eaten by the Grape god furious that he/she is losing a prize specimen to dark side of raisinhood. A survey of nearby floor space reveals no obvious answers.

To add to the demonic possession theory, the grape is now regularly casting a shadow that is greatly larger than itself. This surely cannot be

Day 14: 15/06/2006 08:29. After some foil-based sun action and several days, it seems the grape is becoming mishapen. There is a brown indentation on the right, and the grape is moving from being...grape shaped...to something less regular. It gives way a little when touched, like a shrunken head might. Relativey frequent dark speckles are there to be seen.