# What to do with wild grapes



## CarolynRenee

And when do you harvest them? We have several patches of grapes climbing up trees & there are many, many bunches on them. Still green & hard though. Will they ever get soft? Or how do I tell when they are ready to harvest, and, even more importantly, what are they good for?


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## dragonchick

Sure wish we had some here, maybe they would grow. Tried cultivated grapes and tried to grow but I guess the hardpan clay was just too much for them.

This website says you can eat them or make jelly.
http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Wild_grape/wildgrap.htm


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## Danaus29

They'll turn purple when ripe, just like concord grapes. I made juice from mine last year but didn't get around to making the jelly. The juice is in the freezer, maybe I'll get jelly made this year.


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## ksfarmer

They'll turn purple, soft, and sweeter. Just about the best jelly you can make. Or, wine.:bouncy:


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## Ravenlost

What ksfarmer said!


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## tinknal

Jelly!


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## RWBlue01

I have never had enough to "make" anything. I just eat them while walking in the woods.

They should turn purple and sweet. The ones I have eaten have lots of seeds and not a lot of fruit. I can not imagine how many you need to have to make wine.


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## CCCJerseys

Make sure they are in fact Grapes. There is a look alike that is poisonous. I can't remember the name right now.
The poisonous one doesn't get soft like grapes do nor do they smell like wild concords.
I will try to find the name.

Okay I found it Menispermum Canadense L. (Moon Seed)
Just in case you didn't know.


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## Txrider

Make Jelly, and wine...

We are blessed with very fine wild grapes here in Central Texas, could even be the same variety you have up there. Enough I could easily fill several 5 gallon buckets in a day, even just off the roadsides.

We have a bumper crop this year, and they make some very fine jellies and wines.


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## Pops2

don't forget the leaves are great stuffed and baked


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## praieri winds

if they are muscadine grapes they make very good jelly and wine but be careful about getting your hands into them too much the acid in them will eat your skin up


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## Euphony

If you do a little research into the type of wild grape you have there, you could most likely use them as rootstock for other grape varieties. Just thought I'd add in a different idea here.


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## CarolynRenee

Will TRY to get a pic of the grapes that grow around here. The are pretty tiny, like pencil-eraser tiny. And they are still green.


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## Txrider

Euphony said:


> If you do a little research into the type of wild grape you have there, you could most likely use them as rootstock for other grape varieties. Just thought I'd add in a different idea here.


Yup, it's a not so well known fact that almost all the wine grapes in Europe are grown on root stock originating from Texas wild grape root stock. Saved the European wine industry I believe in the early 1900's as well as California wine grapes when they were virtually wiped out by disease.

My grandfather made fine wine with the wild grapes, and grandma made awesome jellies.


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