I almost died today!
Yes. It’s true.
You guys know how I pride myself on eating dirty grapes because I’m not afraid of some dirt.
Even when I would drive home chomping on grapes and end up with dirty fingers and think about how much of that I was eating…
Even after I ate dirty grapes in Panama and then projectile vomited at the Dole Summit last November – I hung in there and continued to eat dirty grapes…
Until today.
This morning I grabbed a stem of grapes out of the bag and thought I saw a spider web, but ignored it. It’s not the first time I’ve seen one.
Later I went back for more and noticed a big black squished grape and realized… it’s a spider! Upon closer inspection I saw it was a Black Widow Spider. I almost died.
Yes, the spider was not alive, but I almost had a heart attack and that’s how I almost died.
Boo.
After dinner I made a pumpkin cake in a mug. It wasn’t my best recipe so I’m going to go back to the drawing board before I share…
In happier non-spider snack news I met up for iced tea with Melissa from Trying to Heal today! She has been in Peru for the last few months and it was great to catch up!
Note: When I tweeted about the spider in my grapes someone said they just read an article about black widows in grapes. I found a few articles about how this is becoming more common.
This HuffPost article says is a reminder to wash your fruit. And this story from Sept is about a woman who had a similar find.
Oh emmmm geeee–spider twins isn’t it the grossest – hungry girl problems – if you die from black widow grapes I’ll speak at your funeral as someone who can testify that it’s a real thing
Okay, I don’t mind spiders, but only when they are in place I can easily squish them. And only if they aren’t ones that can kill me… EW!
That is seriously scary must be Halloween time in your home. Real life Halloween time. Glad your ok. Go away spiders these grapes are not for you.
I HATE black widows. We have them all over our backyard and I’m constantly killing them. I think I’m up to killing 18 this year. Glad it was dead and you didn’t get bitten!
OH EMMM GEEEEE! That is the craziest story! I used to be lazy about washing stuff too, but I’m better now.
I had to kill a black widow in my garden this year. Traumatic.
I’m glad you’re ok.
I’m not a stickler but you really should always wash your produce because the dirt is well, dirty. I work in a foodborne disease laboratory and I see a lot of illnesses that could have been prevented simply by either washing your produce (this includes vegetables) even if your only eating the inside you still have to cut it open. So when the knife passes over the skin it essentially contaminates everything if it wasn’t clean to begin with. Just a little heads up for everyone. p.s. ewwwww I would have had a flipping heart attack if I found a spider in my grapes. Thank goodness it was dead!
This is why I don’t eat grapes. My sister-in-law was working with this woman when she found a black widow in her grapes http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2006/oct06/blackwidow.html
So you’re washing your grapes for the rest of your life now, right? That is terrifying. WHAT IF IT WASN’T DEAD!
Yes, I am a grape washing convert!
Ugh. Yuck. So glad you came back to life after you died.
If you haven’t already you must go see Janae’s photos of her big egg delivery, so funny!
omg I think I would have passed out. That’s my nightmare!
K, I may have to discontinue my grape consumption for a bit. That totally freaked me out. My mouth hung open for a few seconds there as I strained to look at your picture.
that’s freaking scary! I would die of fright! Oh my goodness!! That would be horrible!!
My husband used to work at his local grocery store in HS. I was showing him this and he says “oh yeah… the guys at the store who used to unpack the fruit used to find them all the time & wore very long, thick gloves to unpack the boxes”. AHHHHH! Creepy. Wash. Wash. Wash.
Just seeing it in a picture is creeping me out. Yikes!
ACK!!!!! WAH! I would freak out-I definitely would have had a heart attack-thank goodness you were looking at what you were eating!
Ew Gross. I am bad about washing fruit, but that makes me want to wash them.
No joke I would have flipped the eff out. I hate HATE spiders. One day I was showering and a spider dropped down on a web from the shower head and I screamed BLOODY MURDER. I screamed so loud my boyfriend, who was downstairs in the basement at the time, came running upstairs because he thought I was being attacked by an intruder.
Yeah, I hate spiders. Also, WASH YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES! 🙂
Holy shit. that’s my worst nightmare.
I would have died. From shock.
Missed you last night!!
🙁 Missed you too. Boo.
This would be why I always wash my fruit. I found a small black bug in my romaine lettuce last month as I was washing it. Freaked me out, but I ate the lettuce anyway, against my better judgement. Thankfully, all was fine.
This happened in Mass recently! I saw a story on the news about three weeks ago; a woman on North Shore bought purple grapes and when she got home & washed them, there was a dead black widow spider squished in there, just like your pic! Maybe they came from the same store? I would’ve thought after the news story they would’ve pulled that distributor of grapes.
…..looks like I’m gonna start washing my grapes, YIKES!
Haha…I didn’t tell you about the bugs we had in our vegetables in the jungle did I? Probably a good thing…lol
That is absolutely terrifying. And sad…I love grapes 🙁
I would’ve FREAKED out. I never wash my grapes either… but, I will now! Ah! I’m freaked out just thinking about it!!
When my co-workers find me vigorously washing all my grapes one by one before lunch today – this is going to be the reason why. Spiders are at the list of “things that completely and totally freak me out”, and also I suck at washing my grapes because it just takes too darn long to do. Never want this to happen to me EVER!
That is pretty much my absolute worst nightmare. I’m terrified of spiders, (and well, dying) and I never wash my fruit. Jesus, that is unsettling.
NO. Never eating grapes again. That’s the worst thing ever.
side note – my husband found a dead black widow outside this summer and decided to chase me around the house with it. He might have gotten sprayed in the eye with Windex because of his poor decision…..(I have really bad aim).
I would have sprayed Ben too!
Ah, that happened to me on Monday!! I never wash my grapes either and then promised I would never eat grapes after that happened. I’m eating grapes now… Oops. 😀
I hope I keep eating them, but right now I feel like I need some time to deal.
That scared me half to death! Seriously, I wash my grapes but I don’t pay attention when I reach in the bag to grab them to wash. Yikes! I will forever now dump the entire bag into a strainer to wash all at once carefully.
Oh my god! I jump at the little brown house spiders, and those are harmless. Good thing I packed grapes with lunch today…..*shudders*
OMG! I just washed my grapes after reading this. Now we’re both not dead 🙂 I have a pic on my instagram of kiwi grapes! have you ever tried them? delicious! @celinaeliz
OMG!!!!
I am never eating grapes again. Like ever.
Holy Crap!! Why would you NOT care there was a spideweb in your grapes?? Spider web = Spider. I would die.
Your crazy. I love it. lol.
Ha! I know, in hindsight it sounds really dumb that I saw the spider web and it didn’t occur to me…
OH M G!!!! I would have died Monica. Really I think my heart would have stopped if I found a spider in my food.
chills……
omg. I hardly ever wash grapes. Normally I just stick my hand in without even looking before popping them in my mouth. I would have screamed, vomited and died. Now I want to go investigate ALL of the produce in my fridge!
Ugh spiders dead or alive give me the serious shudders. I never used to wash my fruit but I was eating whole raspberries with a friend and just as she was about to pop one in she noticed something inside it…a dead BEE! I am crazy about checking now.
Never.Eating.Grapes.Again.
Gross!
I once found a dead bee…yes, stinger and all…just hanging out in my raspberry container I had just bought! I seriously had to do a couple of double takes…couldn’t believe a honkin’ bee made it perfectly in take ..albeit dead…from where ever over there.
(I don’t always wash my fruit either…hmmm, maybe that’s my answer to my intestinal issues lately??? I better start washing those strawberries)
yeah that would freak me out. When I worked in a grocery store over 20 years ago..yes I am old, we would wash fruit for people if they wanted to eat it right way. I have been known to wash fruit in drinking fountains
SOOOO gross! Trick or Treat? October…spiders…approaching Halloween… turned out to be a scary trick :O
Good thing you didn’t eat it! I found a caterpillar in my organic broccoli the other day… Also didn’t eat it, but freaked me out! Not as scary as a black widow though!
Now I’m gonna look really closely when I buy grapes!
Oh, gross! I have a bag of grapes in my fridge and now I’m going to be very cautiously looking through there, just in case a big fat spider might jump out at me. :shiver:
Just awful. We had black widows back in NC and would kill them for fear of babies and getting near our dogs or cats. I know they do good things, are non-aggressive, etc. But not risking it around the animals. Poor Vegas. He is lucky you were there for him!
The Kidless Kronicles
And just like that, I am never buying grapes again.
OMG
Now I have the itches from looking at that picture! ICKKKKKKKK! I’m happy you’re still with us!
Ooooh, good thing I threw mine awa. They were old and mushy and yep, unwashed. Ugh, not again! Good thing you didn’t eat it, ewww.
Washing grapes is not about washing dirt off…it’s about washing off pesticides, crap that gets on them during harvesting, shipping, handling, stocking, etc. It’s not ground to shelf without a lot of hassle and dust in between.
No more dirty grapes for you – just sayin’!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! That’s, like, my worst nightmare come to life. *shudder*