# Wild grapes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480 "2009-09-01T13:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/1 "2009-09-01T13:49:40Z")
Much to my surprise, the wild grapevine taking over my yard has produced bunches of purple grapes. SOUR!!! Do you think they’ll taste sweeter after the first frost? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/2 "2009-09-01T15:50:37Z")
Is the whole grape sour, or just the skin? Are you in North America? Just wondering what variety you might have there. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/3 "2009-09-01T16:11:22Z")
Are you a Fox? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/4 "2009-09-01T16:37:00Z")
I’m in central NY State, and the whole thing is sour as can be! No idea what variety of grape, the vine just appeared a few years ago and is running wild, and now there are smallish purple grapes. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/5 "2009-09-01T17:00:50Z")
It may be a Concord grape, but they are not sour. Is the skin of the grape loose from the pulp? When I make Concord grape pie I have to seperate the flesh and the skins, and all you have to do is kind of pinch it, like a pimple, and the skin and pulp seperate. Does your grape have seeds? As a note of trivia, Concord grapes are one of only three fruits native to North America. The other two are cranberries and blueberries. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/6 "2009-09-01T17:58:43Z")
You are at the northern edge of the [muscadine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscadine)’s range, so that’s a possibility. We use them here for jelly and for homemade wines. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/7 "2009-09-01T17:59:05Z")
Probably Concord, Catawba, or Delaware. If they’re sour, they aren’t ripe yet. Give them another month or two and they’ll be super sweet. They should feel soft and the skin should feel almost loose around the berry flesh. The seeds will be crunchy and nutty instead of green and bitter. If they remind you of Welch’s juice or jelly, definitely vitis labrusca, most likely one of the 3 mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/8 "2009-09-01T18:12:40Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > As a note of trivia, Concord grapes are one of only three fruits native to North America. The other two are cranberries and blueberries. Not true. Those are just the three in most widespread cultivation, there are many others native to the North American continent. Black cherry, persimmon, muscadine and prickly pear are also native and are grown for their fruit. If you include Mexico (and I’m not sure why you wouldn’t) you get advocado and papaya too, which are certainly widely cultivated. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/9 "2009-09-01T18:13:37Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > As a note of trivia, Concord grapes are one of only three fruits native to North America. The other two are cranberries and blueberries. I don’t think that’s right. We also have [muscadine grapes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscadine) (including the [scuppernong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuppernong) variety), the [huckleberry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckleberry), the [blackberry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry), the [beautyberry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautyberry), and some varieties of [persimmon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon). ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/10 "2009-09-01T18:25:24Z")
re the grapes, you could make wine. Years ago my roommate took some grapes that grew along the fence, put them in a roasting pan with some sugar, I don’t remember if he added water, stuck the lid on the pan and about a month later we had wine iirc on the time frame 😃 13 species of elderberry are native to North America according to this Google search result ( I didn’t bother to hit the link) [PDF] DEMAND INCREASING FOR ARONIA AND ELDERBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Elderberry Elderberry is a member of the family Caprifoliaceae with 13 species native to North. America. Commercially, we are interested in Sambucus nigra … www.fruit.cornell.edu/Berries/…/aroniaeldeberry.pdf - Similar - ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/11 "2009-09-01T18:37:24Z")
Missed the edit window. Wild grapes are a good food source for song birds. And your grapes are most likely always going to be sour. My grandpa had a Concord vine and even though we weren’t supposed to we raided it every year. I’m salivating copiously just remembering how tart they were. Wine or jelly, or bird food, not table grapes. BTW, wine is insanely easy to make. I had a roommate once that put some city fence grapes into a roasting pan with sugar and maybe water (it was a long time ago, I don’t remember the details), put the lid on, stuck it in the closet for maybe 6 weeks, and we had some tasty grape wine similar to Manischewitz. iirc he checked on it a couple times to make sure it was fermenting but not getting funky. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/12 "2009-09-01T19:29:00Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > 13 species of elderberry are native to North America according to this Google search result ( I didn’t bother to hit the link) Also the [American red raspberry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_strigosus) and the [avocado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-grapes/508480/13 "2009-09-01T22:36:42Z")
I don’t think they’re Concord grapes, but I’ll leave them alone for a month and see if they get any more edible. (If the birds want them - welcome to it! But they are very sour.)