SC - Verjuice

[grizly at mindspring.com]

sca-cooks at ansteorra.org wrote:
> >I use wine vinegar cut with unsweetened white or red grape juice >(generally tarter than Concord), about three parts vinegar to one of >juice.  Cider vinegar and unsweetened apple juice, in similar >proportions works well, too.

The verjus i bought was drinkable. I even drank about 4 oz. While i 
like things tart, i would consider 3 parts vinegar to one part juice 
not very drinkable. In my experience, a verjus substitute should be 
tart, but not as sharp as fresh lemon juice.

Of course, i don't think i can determine whether my modern California 
verjus has the same degree of acidity as the Medieval... > > > > >

The problem you'll find with the various substitues people will recommend is that none of them has a resemblant balance of the sour and astringent that you get with underripe grapes or crabapples.  There is so much more going on than just the sour and 'not sweet', and it is nigh impossible to approximate it unless you try adding stuff like tannin to it . . . but then we are losing the simplicity of substitutes.

niccolo difrancesco