Concord Grapes

By Hklbrries

The all-American Concord grape turned 150 last year (2003). Debuting in 1853, it is appropriately named after the Massachusetts town of Concord, where it was first grown.

It is a robust and aromatic grape whose ancestors were wild native species found growing in the rugged New England soil. The Concord grape is one of a handful of native North American fruits, along with wild blueberries and cranberries.

Experimenting with seeds from some of the native species, Boston-born Ephraim Wales Bull developed the Concord grape in 1849 on his farm, just down the road from the Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott homesteads.

Bull's farmhouse is still standing. In the garden beside it stands the original parent vine of all the Concord grapes in the world.

The modern-day fruit juice industry began in 1869 in the Vineland, New Jersey, home of Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, where he and his son Charles processed the first bottles of "unfermented wine" for use with the communion service at their church.

Ingredients

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Preparation

Step 1

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