[Sca-cooks] Verjus

[Susan Fox-Davis]

> My brother has a small experimental vineyard on the Oregon coast.... <snip>
> 
> Wonder when the wineries go out and pick for verjuice.  How big are the
> grapes?  Since it was used all year around, how do you store it? Any spies
> out there?  I'll supply you with verjuice if we can easily figure it out.
> 
> Regina Romsey

Verjus is merely the juice of unripe grapes.  I can't imagine that there is
more to it than picking the grapes at an earlier stage of development,  and
bottling it as one would any fruit juice.

Determining when to pick the grapes for verjus would be one of the things
you brother needs to experiment with for a while.  My best guess would be
when they are just nearly full size [to get the greatest proportion of juice
per grape] but not full ripeness.  But would it be tart enough then, about
as tart as kitchen vinegar?  Only taste-testing could tell.

My friend Alexis tells a tale of sitting with the SCA gal pals one day.
They were eating grapes and she bit into an unripe grape, very sour.
Alexis knew she was with her True Companions when she cried out "Verjus!"
and they all understood.  A very special moment indeed.

Selene Colfox