River bank grapes

[dean nelson]

So any of you guys ever use any of them and if so what for?

 

[LBrandt]

Did you taste one yet?

 

[Lycanthrope]

what part of the state did you find those in? I think theres some interest from breeders if you can find authentic/original genetics. Most old school riverbank grapes were killed by herbicide use. Id say they are good for jam/jellies and maybe juice if you sweeten it.

 

[pointer]

When I was a kid my dad and uncle took us down to the desert area (fishing). We would end up usually with a new garbage can full of them so mom and my aunt could make jelly usually about 4 quarts, the rest went to wine. The old man made some great Communion Juice! Made my mom a lot more cheery at Christmas. Used to be gobs of the stuff down there, mixed in with the poison ivy

 

[Obi-Wan]

As a kid my dad would get them from the wildlife area across the river from Washburn and my mother would make jelly & syrup

 

[guywhofishes]

yep - excellent jelly etc.

galwhofishes and I ran into a five gallon bucket of those a couple weeks ago

buy a steam extractor if you have the edible harvesting bug, which it appears you do - you'll be glad you did

 

[Lycanthrope]

I run my grapes through a food mill with an auger designed for grapes, it was a hand crank one that I modified to use a power drill. Works great and you end up with jam instead of jelly, which I prefer. I have a steam extractor but dont use it much at all.

 

[dean nelson]

buy a steam extractor if you have the edible harvesting bug, which it appears you do - you'll be glad you did

Think I have one of those but not sure on the model number. She might get mad if i ask her for that information so I just refer to her as Mom! :;:cheers
Her mother was the one that was very big into this sort of stuff but ever since I got her chokecherries for the first time a couple years ago she's gotten back into it big time especially now with my dad in a home so she doesn't have to spend all day watching him she's got lots to do so I keep finding new things for her to play with.

As for the grapes I'd never actually seen the grapes themselves before I've seen the vines everywhere but never paid them a whole lot of heed until I came across a set that was just completely overrun with large amounts of grapes on there so figured it's worth a try. As for tast they are about half way between sweet and tart right now and will likely get much sweeter as soon as we get a frost from what I'm told. Did get a pretty good chuckle out of a man and a couple of his kids were out picking a whole bunch of them the other day because they wanted to put blueberries in some of the things they were baking! I had to inform him that those are not blueberries and that you would be hard-pressed to find blueberries anywhere in the state for that matter.

Did find this spot which i referred to as my Trifecta bush. With wild plums in the foreground the main amount of the bush in the background are chokecherries and everything getting overrun on the top is grapes over the chokecherries. Guy could have had one full bucket of just about everything on that spot.



- - - Updated - - -

what part of the state did you find those in? I think theres some interest from breeders if you can find authentic/original genetics. Most old school riverbank grapes were killed by herbicide use. Id say they are good for jam/jellies and maybe juice if you sweeten it.

They definitely seem to live up to there name and I'm finding the on the thick edges near the river. They tend to be pretty easy to find just look for the areas that look like you need a machete to get through and theres probably Grapes in there. they'll be crawling all over everything halfway into the canopies of the full size trees with heart shaped leaves that are damn near the size of a plate.

 

[guywhofishes]

we like tart jellys etc. You can adjust too tart with sugar, but you can’t easily add tartness.

Currants are my favorite jelly but my plants are small right now.

we juiced the grapes on the stems - entire works goes into steamer after washing bugs off

worked out swell for our taste

 

[Lycanthrope]

Here you guys go, some eye candy and secrets from my kitchen!!! Just processed a mess of grapes last weekend. They are fairly easy to grow, if anyone is interested or needs tips just holler and I can point you in the right direction...

 

[MSA]

How do they taste off the vine?

 

[guywhofishes]

wow - nice pics lyc

 

[SDMF]

yep - excellent jelly etc.

galwhofishes and I ran into a five gallon bucket of those a couple weeks ago

That seems way easier than picking them. How do you know when it's not someone else's bucket though?

 

[fj40]

We used to have tons of them on the farm north of milnor. Grandpa transplanted them from the banks of the Cheyenne (sp) in the late 1800's. my mother canned grape juice and you could not put enough sugar in it to make it sweet.

 

[KDM]

Mama makes jam/jelly outta the grapes we get, but says the trick to getting sweet grape juice is to NOT squeeze the skins which is where the tart/bitter flavor comes from. She boils the grapes for a couple minutes to split the skins open and then puts the whole thing into a dish towel wrap and hangs it from a cupboard handle and gravity pulls the juice out. When she thinks most of the juice is out, she'll give the wrap a couple GENTLE compresses with her hands and that's it. I believe what she says because the liquid left in the bowl you can just add water to and you have AWESOME grape juice that's way better than the frozen stuff. No sugar added at all. She does add a little sugar when making the jelly and such, but not alot. The left over skins and seeds go to the chickens and they don't leave a single skin unconsumed. We made 3 gallons of juice this year and hopefully get a bit more next year.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Mama makes jam/jelly outta the grapes we get, but says the trick to getting sweet grape juice is to NOT squeeze the skins which is where the tart/bitter flavor comes from. She boils the grapes for a couple minutes to split the skins open and then puts the whole thing into a dish towel wrap and hangs it from a cupboard handle and gravity pulls the juice out. When she thinks most of the juice is out, she'll give the wrap a couple GENTLE compresses with her hands and that's it. I believe what she says because the liquid left in the bowl you can just add water to and you have AWESOME grape juice that's way better than the frozen stuff. No sugar added at all. She does add a little sugar when making the jelly and such, but not alot. The left over skins and seeds go to the chickens and they don't leave a single skin unconsumed. We made 3 gallons of juice this year and hopefully get a bit more next year.

Crushing the seeds/skins does change the flavor some, it makes it a little more bitter and adds a strange zing. The juice I get from the stems/seeds after going through the normal food mill is very thick and Im sure loaded with stuff thats good for you. Health wise seeds are supposed to be the best part of the grape, full of antioxidants and stuff. Wild grapes might be different than my valiant tho. Personally I like the S&S (Seeds and Skins) jam better than the first squeeze stuff, intense is a good description of it.

 

[KDM]

I would certainly believe an S&S jam like you describe has an "Intense" flavor. I know whenever I've chewed one of our grapes with the skin on, I find muscles that contort my face that I never knew I had. Makes those warped mirrors jealous.

 

[guywhofishes]

 

[LBrandt]

^^^^^^ OK now tell us what it is. Some kind of steam extractor for juice? ^^^^^^

 

[dean nelson]

They definitely look cool well picking with fall colors setting in.