[Sca-cooks] Verjuice

[Wanda Pease]

Stefan has helped me find the file of previous messages on verjuice, and
I've still got questions.  In fact, I have more questions now.

I have green, unripe grapes hanging heavy on my vine out back.  My brother's
vines on the Oregon coast are so thick it's plain that he is going to have
to thin them in a month or so.

First question:  When do you thin grapes, at what size?  The ones out back
are still pretty hard, but if I put them through a blender and squeezed them
I would probably get juice.  I ate one, and it had flavor rather than just
tasting "green".  The ones on my brother's vines are still about peppercorn
size so I think they need to grow some more before we experiment.

Second question:  Do you let the juice ferment or use it straight.  One
message said that she canned the liquid, keeping it in sealed containers.
This strikes me as unlikely to have happened in period since I believe
canning was developed in the 19th century.

Third question:  One message mentioned that the writer had problems with the
product molding even when kept in the refrigerator.  I can see the juice
being kept in jars in a cold room off the pantry or in the wine cellar, but
if the stuff molds even in cool conditions, what did they do?  Did they just
skim off the mold and go from there, or maybe strain it into a new jar?
    Since verjuice is called for in a number of recipes, I can't believe
that they only used it during grape thinning season.  I suppose people who
used crabapples could keep them to be crushed as needed, but not grapes.

I intend to take Stefan's suggestion and go out and try to make a batch
tomorrow out of the grapes, then another batch every weekend I'm home until
the grapes are ripe.  I'll also descend on my brother in mid-August, pillage
his vineyard, and make him use his grape press and bottler to help.

Regina Romsey

"Never try and apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem!"