Unidentified grapes.

[dr_al]

At a friends house they have these growing in the side yard. I have look at a few pictures but a more expert opinion on what they are would be appreciated.

They have a large arbor of concords we will be experimenting with this fall as well.

The unidentified grapes are ready now in some bunches, we will start harvesting cleaning de stemming then freezing until we have enough for a gallon or more.

 

[dr_al]

Another pic

 

[SteveHoward]

Are these grapes just growing wild?

I ask because what I can see looks like what we called 'possum grapes where I grew up. (I grew up WAY back in the sticks in Cherokee country in NE Oklahoma.)

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...702DFCC0A479A7F1653504B44F31D4B909886&first=0

I see that the common name "opossum grapes" is used for more than one kind of fruit, but this really looks like what I knew as 'possum grapes.

If they are, they're edible, but we never ate them in too large of quantities ... mostly because it was really hard to beat the racoons and opossums to them - they were always wild and nobody ever tried to cultivate them.

That's my best guess based on my experience.

 

[dr_al]

Their along the property line mixed in with some black walnut trees, I have seen them growing along old bridges in town.

 

[kc_in_wv]

I am agreement with SteveHoward in the fact that they are wild. Here we call them Fox Grapes. The best way to identify them is to compare is to compare photo's of the leaves and grapes.

 

[dr_al]

I was looking at some fox leaves in a drawing I'll hop on google now that I'm home and compare.

They taste allot like a Concord I believe I'll pick enough for a gallon and give it a try.

 

[huesmann]

Yeah, they're probably wild native grapes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_labrusca

 

[RobWalker]

Professional companies can Id them for a small price, but they'll find the nearest match. Fruits are like dogs - they cross breed into all shapes and sizes. Best bet is to test them amongst some other varieties for acidity etc, and then adjust your chemical balance and process to match.

Or even better, make wine with them this year, crack open a bottle when they're ready next year, and see what you can change. Drink this wine anyway, because it'll probably taste great and knowing you made it from the fat of the land and your own experimentation makes it ten times better!

 

[dr_al]

Thank you very much everyone. After browsing recipes for wild grapes, I'll go with 6 lbs top up to gallon, camphdon, pectic and sugar up to around 1.1 and montrachet.

We will try one at 6 or 8 then next year when they are ripe again to see if we want to repeat.

 

[kc_in_wv]

Pick all that you can and freeze what you don't need this year. Wild grapes don't hit every year. It has been 3 years since I have had a wild grape crop and 10 years since they hit with the abundance of this year.

 

[dr_al]

ahh good to know, kc, i'm already behind on them but tonight i'm going out with friends to clean up what ever is ready.

went to my dads house, today and hit grapes are coming in strong and are becoming ripe, i dont know what they are yet but our neighbor used to pick and have wine made from them and we started these from cuttings of his.

 

[dr_al]

well we cleaned the vines up pretty good tonight we got 5.25 lbs after washing and cleaning, stuck them in the freezer. in a few more days i'll go back for some more.

took 6 of us 3 hours to to get that much, these grapes are tiny and don't ripen very evenly lots of green mixed with ripe and raisins. lots of sorting but thankfully lots of hands to help.