Fox Grapes – Vitis labrusca

Fox Grapes cultivar Concord

 

I sit and often wonder about this little grape
How intriguing is it to ponder the structure and taste
I yearn to know more as I taste and revel with mouth agape.
Squeezed just right, and secured for ages to come with no
     great haste….

 

By R.A. Beeman

 

The fruit of the vine, the new wine of the New Testament, grapes and the wines they create have been in favor for centuries! This species is most likely the grape spotted by Leif Ericsson in the 11th century when he explored the north eastern coast of North America (Vinland). There is tons of evidence that this species of grape was growing here on this continent centuries before the European set foot here. This particular grape is the source of the cultivars Catawba, Concord, Niagara, Isabella, and Delaware!

 

The all important cultural crop, Concord grapes (from which the famous jelly is made), was first breed from wild seeds by Ephraim Bull in Concord, Massachusetts in the 19^th century.

 

The grape or telvladi was used by the Cherokee Indians As a blood medicine, and antidiarrheal, a gynecological aid, and a liver aid, among other things. The Iroquois used a decoction of the roots to aid horses in fertility resulting in conception.

 

The Cherokee also used the fruit mashed with sour grape, pokeberry juice, sugar and cornmeal as a juice to drink. It was also used to make dumplings!

 

The flowers and fruit of the grape are very beneficial to wildlife, with many insects and birds drawing nourishment from it. Bumblebees, honeybees, digger bees and long-tongued bees pollinate the flowers and collect pollen from the flowers. Other insects eat leaves of suck juices from the plant.

 

Many birds like the ruffed grouse, bobwhite; northern flicker, crow, and cardinal to name a few eat the fruit, and help in the spread of the plant by dropping the seeds with their feces. Many of these same birds use the dense vines for hiding places and to nest in. Some birds will even use the bark to help in nest building.

 

White tailed deer also find the leaves and stems delectable.

 

Oil which is obtained from the grape seed is used in cosmetics, and aromatherapy massage oils. It is easily absorbed into the skin without excess greasiness. It is light and thin, leaving a glossy sheen to the skin. It helps in maintains skin moisture.

To check out other uses for grapes read my first post here

Fox Grapes – Vitis labrusca

Wine Grapes on the Vine

What tree may not the fig be gathered from?

The grape may not be gathered from the birch?

It’s all you know the grape, or know the birch…

- Robert Frost, Wild Grape

 

 

Notable varieties of fox grapes are Concord, Catawba, Delaware, Niagara, Isabella and Ives. They are all native to North America. The early settlers to this continent found these grapes to be very different in scent and taste from what they were used to in European grapes. They described this musky difference as ‘foxy.’ These varieties have the most notable aromas of all wine grapes, being unique in an earthy, sweet, musky way. Scientist isolated the aroma compound, methyl anthranilate, in the 1920s.

Vitis labrusca is found growing wild from Maine to the South Carolina Piedmont, west to Tennessee. But in cultivation most of the Concord variety is grown in New York and its surrounding states.

The fruit is used for food as jam, jelly, dried as raisins, juice, and especially wines! The leaves are steamed and used to wrap foods for cooking, being popular in Greek cooking. The leaves can also be cooked and eaten as greens. Also the leaves produce a yellow dye either in fresh or dried form.

An infusion has been used in the treatment of diarrhea, hepatitis, stomachaches, fevers, headaches, and thrush. Externally, the leaves are poulticed and applied to sore breasts, rheumatic joints, and headaches. The wilted leaves have been applied as a poultice to the breasts to draw away soreness after the birth of a child. An infusion of the bark has been used to treat urinary complaints

In magic use grapes have been utilized for prosperity spells and fertility charms. To increase fertility hang a grape vine wreath above your bed. To increase prosperity hang the grape vine wreath in the kitchen or place silver coins around a bunch of grapes, visualize money flowing into your hands as you hold your hands above the coins and grapes. Then eat the grapes!

Porcelain berry – Ampelopsis brevipedunculata

Porcelain Berry

This woody climbing vine is native to Southeast Asia. It was first cultivated on North America as a bedding and landscape plant around the 1870’s. It quickly escaped cultivation and became a problem plant in the south where it can take over areas from the native species.

This plant is often confused with grape, but there are several ways to tell the plants apart.

1. The pith of the stem on the Porcelain berry is white, the grape is brown.
2. The stem pith is continuous across the nodes in Porcelain berry, the grape is not.
3. The bark of porcelain berry does not peel, where as the grape does.
4. The bark of Porcelain berry has lenticels, the grape does not.

The fruit is amazing to see, they appear in September to October and change colors from from white to a series of pastel shades of yellow; lilac, and green before finally turning a sky blue. All the colors can be found at the same time, often on the same branch! The fruit may very well be the reason this vine was imported to begin with!

The berries contain 2-4 seeds and are edible, though not very tasty being very bland. Wildlife eats the berries and disperses the seeds. The leaf buds, young leaves, and young stems are also edible when cooked.

The fresh fruits, roots and leaves are antiphlogistic (reduces inflammation), depurative (purgative), and febrifuge (reduces fever). It is used externally in the treatment of boils, abscesses and ulcers, traumatic bruises and aches.