[Sca-cooks] grapes for verjuice

[Stefan li Rous]

Maire commented:
> P.S. I actually have obligatory food content! My neighbor on the corner
> was taking advantage of a break in the clouds yesterday to mow his 
> lawn,
> and I stopped to talk and be neighborly.  I've been eye-balling his
> grape vines for two years now (he has them growing all over and through
> the chain-link fence around his yard).  He said I could help myself to
> grapes.  Hallelujah, I have a source for grapes to make verjuice! Now 
> if
> I can only find out how relatively ripe/unripe they should actually be.

What types of grapes are these? Are they Concord grapes or a variety 
which came from Europe?

Well, if the yield is high enough, you might try picking some at 
different times, processing them, and seeing which batch you like 
better. I'm not sure how consistent you can be from year to year, 
simply because of  yearly variations but you should be able to develop 
an idea for you, of when you think the grapes are ready to be used. Or 
if, as I think was done, verjuice was made from the grapes culled from 
the vines throughout the season, maybe the exact timing isn't that 
important.

You might also want to look at some of the previous discussions and 
information on verjuice in this Florilegium file in the FOOD section:
verjuice-msg     (101K) 12/15/04    Medieval verjuice. Modern 
substitutions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/verjuice-msg.html

There is also this file. Perhaps something in it might also be of use:
grapes-msg        (32K)  9/10/01    Period grapes, raisins and currants.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-FRUITS/grapes-msg.html

Good luck. I'd like to hear reports on how this progresses.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****