Grape shot

“ It is not uncommon to preserve grapes in must, and so make them drunk with their own juices; while there are some that are all the sweeter for being placed in must after it has been boiled; others, again, are left to hang on the parent tree till a new crop has made its appearance, by which time they have become as clear and as transparent1126 as glass. Astringent pitch, if poured upon the footstalk of the grape, will impart to it all that body and that firmness which, when placed in dolia or amphoræ, it gives to wine. ”

“ At five o'clock in the evening I again set off. The spectacle of yesterday evening was repeated, and at sunset the grasshoppers again began to sing. For about a league the journey lies between walls above which the grape-espaliers are visible. Other walls, which are not high enough, have been eked out with stones, thorns, etc., to prevent passengers from plucking off the grapes. Many owners sprinkle the foremost rows with lime, which renders the grapes uneatable, but does not hurt the wine, as the process of fermentation drives out the heterogeneous matter. ”

“ When people become accustomed to it they rarely give it up. When properly prepared, unfermented grape juice can be made to please the eye by its color and attractive appearance, the sense of smell by its aroma or fragrance, the palate by its pleasant flavor. ”

“ Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have grapes on our table but wise manufacturers have found a way by which the juice of the grape may be possible at all times of the year and in every corner of the land. ”

“ Squeeze with your fingers the pulp from each grape. Put the pulps on the fire, and boil them until they are tender; then press them through a colander, so that the seeds may be taken out; now add the skins to the pulps and juice. Put a cupful of sugar to each cupful of fruit, and boil all together until of a thick consistency. Green-grape preserves are also nice. In managing the green grapes, halve them, and extract the seeds with a small knife. Put also a cupful of sugar to a cupful of fruit. Many prefer the green to the ripe grape preserves. ”

“ Boys and girls in smocks stained with grape-juice, with grapes in their hands and mouths, ran after their mothers. On the road you continually came across tattered labourers with baskets of grapes on their powerful shoulders; Cossack maidens, veiled with kerchiefs to their eyes, drove bullocks harnessed to carts laden high with grapes. Soldiers who happened to meet these carts asked for grapes, and the maidens, clambering up without stopping their carts, would take an armful of grapes and drop them into the skirts of the soldiers’ coats. ”

“ Nature has expended her bounties in fullest measure for the vineyard. More than 2000 varieties of grapes are described in American viticultural literature, and twice as many more find mention in European treatises on the vine. Few other fruits offer the novelties given the grape in flavors, aromas, sizes, colors and uses. ”

“ All intelligent pruning of the grape rests upon the fact that the fruit is borne in a few clusters near the base of the growing shoots of the season, and which spring from wood of last year's growth. It may be said here that a growing, leafy branch [Pg 13] of the grape vine is called a shoot; a ripened shoot is called a cane; a branch or trunk two or more years old is called an arm. Fig. 1 is a shoot as it appears in the northern states in June. The whole shoot has grown within a month, from a bud. As it grew, flower clusters appeared and these are to bear the grapes. ”

“ The flowers on the grape-vine are very small and delicate. They are much smaller than the fruit that forms after they fall. The delicious grape is something more than a seed-holder. If it were meant only to hold the seeds, it would not have all that juicy pulp that is so pleasant to the taste. ”

“ Bunch large, heavy shouldered—somewhat compact; berries large, round, black, with blue bloom; buttery, sweet and rich here, when well ripened; with very thin skin and tender pulp. A strong and vigorous grower; with healthy, hardy foliage; free from mildew, and but slightly subject to rot; succeeds well in almost any soil; and is, so far, the most profitable grape we grow. A fine market fruit, and also makes a fine, light red wine, which is generally preferred to the Catawba. Can be easily grown from cuttings.
NORTON'S VIRGINIA, (NORTON'S SEEDLING, VIRGINIA SEEDLING) . ”

“ When sour enough to be 'just right' the barrels should be filled as full as possible and tightly corked or the sourness may disappear."
MAKING GRAPE JUICE
Any girl with a little experience in canning fruit can make for home use and for sale a harmless and delectable beverage out of the surplus grapes. Every good grape year on the farm there comes the question of what to do with the grapes. A little jelly is made when the grapes are green but most people prefer currant jelly or blackberry or crab apple. ”

“ What is a single grape? One that fell in the season of the grape harvest. If one was harvesting grapes, and he was cutting clusters of grapes that were entangled in leaves, And they fell from his hand to the earth, and they were made into single grapes, Indeed, this belongs to the master of the house. If one leaves a basket under the vine, in the season that he harvests grapes, Indeed, he is openly stealing from the poor. ”

“ The grape vine in the vineyard is not ornamental, but only because its beauty is marred by the formal shapes in which it must be trained to meet the purposes of the cultivator. But as a festoon for an arbor, or for hiding a neglected building, for the porch of the farmhouse, or for any place where a bold or picturesque effect is wanted, or for giving an expression of strength, no vine surpasses some of the varieties of our native grapes. Properly planted they are not only beautiful in themselves but attractive through their suggestiveness. ”

“ Being rather heavy it is improved to many palates by adding ice-cold vichy after it is in the glasses.
Grape Wine: Pick from stems, wash, drain, and mash thoroughly, ripe sound grapes. Add measure for measure of full-boiling water, and let stand twelve hours. If very deep color is desired, and the [87] grapes are black, let stand twenty-four. Strain, measure juice, add to each gallon three pounds of sugar, stir till dissolved, then put in a clean vessel, filling it only three-parts, cover the mouth with lawn, and let stand in clean warm air until fermentation ceases. ”

“ As the grapes pass through the crusher, they fall into the stemmer, a machine which tears off the stems, discharging them at one end, while the seeds, skins, pulp and juice pass through the bottom to the presses usually on the floor below. ”

“ For here it is to be remarked, that it is a celestial food to eat for breakfast hot fresh cakes with grapes, especially the frail clusters, the great red grapes, the muscadine, the verjuice grape, and the laskard, for those that are costive in their belly, because it will make them gush out, and squirt the length of a hunter’s staff, like the very tap of a barrel; and oftentimes, thinking to let a squib, they did all-to-besquatter and conskite themselves, whereupon they are commonly called the vintage thinkers. ”

“ Then we find large quantities of the grapes so deficient in color and flavor as to be worthless; in some varieties whole bunches will hang flaccid, withered, and insipid—while perhaps a few, more favorably situated, will have their proper flavor. The grape vine is well called beautiful, and it is capable of sustaining most wonderful amounts of fruit; but on young vines, especially, it is very bad policy to allow of this over-production. ”

“ A third operation, the removal of the larger leaves, when the grape has attained almost its full size, has, besides the above, another object in view, which is, the exposure of the bunches to the ripening influence of the sun's rays. This is only necessary, or advantageous, in colder climates, it being seen above, that it is in some cases advantageous to ripen the grapes in the shade. ”

“ When the proprietor is of an economic turn he usually has the refuse grapes pressed for wine for home consumption. Spite of the [Pg 151] minute examination to which the grapes are subjected, a sharp eye will frequently discover in the heart of what looks like a regular and well-grown bunch a grape that is absolutely rotten, and capable of infecting its companions when the whole are heaped up together in the wine-press.
ARRIVAL OF THE GRAPES AT THE PRESS-HOUSE.
Carts laden with grapes are continually arriving at the pressoirs, discharging their loads and driving off for fresh ones. ”

“ We are supplied with them most generously and munificently by the people. There are several houses that seem to be common property, where they express the juice of the [215] grape. They have, along one side of the house, a row of large vats, into which the grapes are thrown; and beside these, stone troughs, into which the juice flows. Men get in the vats, and tread the grapes with their feet. It is hard work, and their clothes are often stained with the grape. The figures found in Scripture, taken from this, are true to the life. ”

“ This grape, under proper treatment, has proved very productive with me, and will make a wine of very high quality. The bunches and berries are small, it is true; but not much more so than the Delaware; it also sets its fruit well, and as it is hardy, healthy, and a strong grower, it promises to be one of our leading wine grapes. Bunches small, but compact, shouldered; berry small; white at the East; pale flesh-color here; round, sweet, and without pulp; skin very thin. Requires long pruning on spurs, to bring out its fruitfulness. ”

“ Considering the uncertainty of Seasons, and that every sort of Grape will not always ripen without Art, it will be necessary to contrive how that Defect may be amended. The Richness of Wine depends upon the Ripeness of the Grapes; and therefore when Grapes have not had the advantage of a favourable Season to ripen, the Liquor press'd from the Grapes, may be amended by boiling; for this extraordinary Heat will correct the Juice, by evaporating the two great quantity of watery parts. ”

“ Suckers and water-sprouts are less common on well-trained vines. It is necessary, too, by training to keep the bunches away from trunk, canes and other bunches and so prevent injury to the grapes.
Lastly, fashion, taste or a more or less abnormal use of the grapes, may prescribe the form in which a vine is trained. Fashion and taste run from very simple or natural styles to exceedingly complex, formal ones, depending, often, on the variety, the environment or other condition, but just as often on the whim of the grape-grower. ”

“ There is no fruit so difficult to can nicely as the grape; by observing the following instructions you will find the grapes rich and tender a year from putting up. Squeeze the pulp from the skin, as the seeds are objectionable; boil the pulp, until the seeds begin to loosen, in one kettle, having the skins boiling, in a little water, hard in another kettle, as they are tough. When the pulp seems tender, put it through the sieve; then add the skins, if tender, with the water they boil in, if not too much. We use a large coffeecupful of sugar for a quart can ”

“ Mr. Frost: It very nearly killed mine. They were big trees, too.
The Chairman: I had just such an experience as that with grape vines. We found that if grapes are pruned at a certain time in the spring they will bleed profusely, and sometimes actually bleed to death. ”

“ Grapes are much used as a fresh fruit. When they are to be used in this way, the bunches should be put into a colander and washed thoroughly by running cold water over them. Then all the imperfect ones should be removed and the grapes kept cool until they are to be served. Clean grape leaves make an attractive garnish for the individual plates or the serving dish on which the grapes are placed. Grapes are also used extensively for making jelly and grape juice, a beverage that is well liked. ”

“ A really good table grape should have a large amount of sugar, but tempered and made more agreeable by a due proportion of acid, as, if the acid is wanting, it will taste insipid; a tender pulp, agreeable flavor, a large amount of juice, a good sized bunch, large berry, small seeds, thin skin, and hang well to the bunch. ”

“ The writer has often been asked what kind of grapes should be used in making unfermented grape juice, when, as a matter of fact, it can be made from any grape; not only this, but unfermented juice is made from other fruits as well, for instance, apples, pears, cherries—and berries of different kinds yield excellent juices. It is really good judgment in selecting the right varieties when planting for fruit production. That also determines the quality of our unfermented juice. ”

“ Boil together 1 pound of sugar and half a pint of water until it spins a thread; take from the fire and when cool add the juice of 6 lemons and a quart of grape juice. Stand aside overnight. Serve with plain water, apollinaris, or soda water.
GRAPE SHERBET.
For 8 persons mix 1 pint of grape juice (unfermented) , juice of lemon and 1 heaping tablespoonful of gelatine, dissolved in boiling water; freeze quickly; add beaten white of 1 egg just before finish. ”

“ To all palates the grape is delicious; it is not only one of the most palatable articles of diet, but is more highly medicinal than any other fruit. It is the natural source of pure wine. Pure wine made of grapes is only to be procured, in this country, by domestic manufacture. ”