Wine Grapes??

[princesskimmi]

We have a lot of wine grapes growing beside our house and I am wondering besides eating them what can I use them for - Can I actually make wine with them?? (if you know me you knew I'd be asking that lol)

And should I trim em back entirely at the end of summer??

Thanks

[Tweetybird999]

lol. yes you can. I don't do it but my friend's Grandma used to.

[princesskimmi]

I looked it up online It's quite the process but I might try.

[DianneS]

They make awesome grape jelly....

[princesskimmi]

I am going to try the grape jelly! Thanks Dianne

[secheltsaver]

Got a dehydrator?Make raisins!We do this every year with our green Riesling type grapes,and use them for baking.OMG the butter tarts turn out incredible from the extra sugar in them.
Make juice!IF you mash them to bits and strain the juice out (heating it like you would for jelly)you can freeze it in a milk jug and concentrate it by upending the frozen jug over another container.The water in the juice stays frozen the longest,and the syrup that drains out can be refrozen and the step repeated until mostly syrup remains.Reconcentrate to taste to use.
Do this with wine and you get something like Sherry or Brandy.Friends gave me a bottle of this by mistake instead of wine at Christmas one year-oops.Dishes got done the next day,and hubby had to put the food away.
P.S. I've heard of people saving the pulp from juice making for adding to baking.

[secheltsaver]

Oh and pruning is usually done in late winter/very early spring

[davidjoseph]

Yes I think you can after all they are majorly meant for that purpose only.

[endi2000]

We have a lot of wine grapes growing beside our house and I am wondering besides eating them what can I use them for - Can I actually make wine with them?? (if you know me you knew I'd be asking that lol)

And should I trim em back entirely at the end of summer??

Thanks

You say they are wine grapes - what kind are they? and what colour. If they are the large very purple or blue ones with seeds - they are Concord and really not wine grapes - they are usually used for jelly etc.

Cutting back - because we used to do dried flower arrangements, wreaths and bowers - we cut them back when the grapes were done. They need to be manipulated when they are still alive so they don't break. This can be done by dunking them in warm water after they have dried - but it is much easier just to make the wreath when you are cutting them back.

If you don't want to do it yourself - you could always post on Freecycle - there may be crafters around looking for the vines.