Wild Ideas for Wild Grapes?

[...tm...]

So, as i was pulling out literally hundreds of wild grape vines growing and strangling our native trees and plants here in the midwest US I wondered if there was anything i could do with these besides make boring graoevine baskets or balls or risk that they will decmpose and not take over my hot compost heap. Has anyone here ever tried to make plonky wine out of this suff?

[divina]

Have you eaten the grapes?

are they good?

I am more for instant gratification.. jellies or jams..

We have a unripe grape sauce in Italy that we use, called Agresto

Agresto

½ cup dry bread crumbs

1 tsp sugar

2 Tbs chopped parsley

2 garlic cloves

½ cup almonds

1 cup unripe grape juice

salt and pepper to taste

Make like a pesto!

Pureé in the blender.

The almonds and breadcrumbs thicken the sauce and the sugar balances the acidity of the tart grape juice.

In the Medieval times it was used as a sauce for meats

[sparrowgrass]

I have done wild grape wine--it is fun, and mine was drinkable.

Wild grape jelly is tasty, too.

I better go check and see if mine are ripe.

[Rien]

1 cup unripe grape juice

"Unripe grape juice" - is this the same thing as "verjus"?

I was at Sur La Table the other day and they were clearing out boxes of Fusion Verjust for a couple of bucks each. I wasn't aware that verjus came in both red and white versions - I'd always just seen it referenced as "verjus" without specifying color. I bought some and was wondering what to do with it.

Rien

[carswell]

Don't have any ideas for the fruit, but strip the thick woody stems of their leaves and leave them to dry. In a barbecue they burn fast, hot and clean and impart a fine smoky savour to grilled foods, especially duck breasts.

[Really Nice!]

...or risk that they will decmpose and not take over my hot compost heap.

I do not believe they will decompose. I saved trimmings from my vines from the previous season and all they did was get hard. That's when I would throw them in the wood-fired pizza oven about a minute before tossing in a pizza.

In a barbecue they burn fast, hot and clean and impart a fine smoky savour to grilled foods, especially duck breasts.

And they sell for about $5 a small handfull. There is a market for it, you just need to find a buyer. (Bbq stores, farmers markets...)

[andiesenji]

If the leaves are large enough, I would use them. I have a vine that doesn't produce a lot of grapes but does produce lovely large leaves that are great for dolmas, etc. I also use some to wrap some of the cheeses I make.

I use this recipe. with excellent results.

[carswell]

If the leaves are large enough, I would use them.  I have a vine that doesn't produce a lot of grapes but does produce lovely large leaves that are great for dolmas, etc.

I thought about suggesting that and other leaf ideas, like wrapping fish before grilling or steaming. But I didn't know whether wild North American grape leaves would work. The grape leaves I buy in jars are from vinifera vines. Do non-vinifera leaves taste the same or as good? Or do they have, say, that dreadful foxiness found in wines made from North American grapes (Norton/Cynthiana excepted)?

Edited August 3, 2004 by carswell (log)

[andiesenji]

I haven't noticed any off flavors in the leaves. My varieties are a Muscat and a Crimson seedless grafted onto the same rootstock.

The muscat leaves are lighter in color and a little smaller than the seedless but I use both with good results.

[carswell]

Well, Muscat is a vinifera grape, the only one used as both a wine grape and a table grape, I believe. But Crimson Seedless appears to be a labrusca (i.e. native American) table grape, so I guess that answers my question.

Edited August 4, 2004 by carswell (log)

[Romaney O'Malley]

There is an Australian chef/cook called Maggie Beer who has a book called 'Cooking with Verjuice'. It may be useful if you have a lot. She has a recipe for a whole chicken poached in verjuice which I have cooked before and it's wonderful.

Here is a link to it at Amazon

sorry if I've gone off topic...

[chefdg]

Make verjus. Just press the grapes with a heavy weight and then strain the liquid that remains. I give it a day or two to extract most of the juice. Add it to sauces or make vinaigrettes with it. Gelato sounds good.

[msphoebe]

May I just share an experience? You may or may not find it of interest. It's just that the thought of wild (or nearly-wild) grapes brings back a childhood memory...

Mother had just received a new set of Samsonite luggage for her 30th birthday. My sister and I were playing with Mother's new Cosmetic case (a piece of luggage that I doubt is even made anymore) and decided to go to the neighbor's backyard and pack it full of purple grapes.

Imagine my mother's horror when we presented her with the new piece of luggage...packed full of juicy, purple grapes! The satin lining was stained in no time, our behinds were spanked and we were sent to our rooms for naps.

When we awoke, Mother was in the kitchen, pots steaming, making grape jelly from the grapes that had ruined her prized new luggage.

Is that Mother's love, or what?

[andiesenji]

Well, Muscat is a vinifera grape, the only one used as both a wine grape and a table grape, I believe. But Crimson Seedless appears to be a labrusca (i.e. native American) table grape, so I guess that answers my question.

One could simply pick some vine leaves, steam them and taste. That is what I did when I first began using mine.

I also get some from a neighbor (who has huge old vines (planted more than 30 years ago) that cover a very large arbor. One is a red grape that is full of seeds but very sweet, one is a white grape, also full of seeds and one is the tiny grapes often sold in the stores as "champagne" grapes. A younger vine that he planted to replace one that died about 10 years ago is a very large black grape that has only a couple of seeds in each grape. Carmine makes what he calls vino tavolo from a combination of these grapes. I don't drink anything with alcohol so can't say how it tastes but I have used it in cooking and have made vinegar from it.

The black grape has huge leaves, some are 8 or 9 inches across. The mature leaves have three large ribs in each leaf that have to be trimmed out because they do not soften in steaming. They taste good though.

[...tm...]

Thanks for all the ideas. The grapes are fairly tart, so the agresto sounds very interesting. They are also fairly small, but luckily we have millions of them.