grapes

[Mike in Virginia]

Thinking yesterday while I was not seeing any deer (didn't shoot one all season) about wild grapes.  They are about gone here now, but earlier in the fall they are prolific.  They are so small, the seed is almost as big as the grape, but they grow in bunches, so just grab a handufull and eat seeds and all.  Real nourishment.  Not as sweet as farm grown grapes, but still delicious.  Another good use of wild grape fines is the dead outer bark.  It comes off real easy and is super dry (on a dry day) and makes for great fire tinder.  Still yet, in the summer, cut a vine into with the little saw on your Leatherman (you do have a Leatherman with a saw, right?) and clear water drips out more quickly than you might think.  The bigger the vine the more water bleeds out. 
To cut a vine is only to kill the part above the cut.  I cut one yesterday but although it was moist inside, no water obtained.  Wrong time of year I reckon.  Last summer I was clearing brush, all my water long gone, when I tried the grape fine.  It filled a cup size container within 2 minutes.  That was a vine a little bigger than my thumb. 
So, there's 3 uses for wild grapes that I have personally tried.  I've read (don't know if this is fact) that the green grape leaves make a nourishing tea. 
Wait!  One more I've done mysef. Choose fallen and dead grape vines for a hot fire very quickly.  Better than dead pine for an instant big blaze. 
 
 
 

[Mike in Virginia]

This thread has been up since Dec. 2 with no responses.  Surely I'm not the only person out there who appreciates the value of grapes and grapevines.  I just know a little bit.  Anyone out there who can tell me more?

[Bob Riebe]

I have one in my garden at my late father's house, I eat them in the fall but simply have been to lazy to make grape jelly or wine although I have far more than enough.

I strung the vine out about fifteen feet to a locust tree and now I have planted domestic grapes next to the tree that are following the wild vine back to the trellis the wild vine grew up on.

It is getting to be a tangled mess and this winter, early spring, I am going to have to go out there and trim drastically.

As you said the trimmed vine, especially if bundled up, makes incredibly good fire starter material.

I hope I can get my lazy buttocks in gear this year and try to make some wine, I have those re-sealable bottles, so all I need is to do it.

I also have rhubarb for wine and after finishing the last of some forty year old rhubarb wine about five years ago (it was more like the finest cognac) while I will be long dead before it gets that good, I really miss it.

[Ranger99]

i have wild grapes all along the south fenceline
and in the northeast corner.
i can't say how good they are or what i made
because the deer eat 'em all before they
ever get past the sour stage.

[reliquary]

MIV:  I didn't realize you were looking for information.  Wild grapes, such as the ones you describe, are mostly useful as a food source for wild animals, but if found in sufficient quantities, can be used for making wine and jelly. 
 
What you describe sounds like what we call "possum grapes" or some folks call them  "fox grapes" in other parts of the country.  They're basically lots of seed, lots of skin, and little pulp.
 
Other forms of wild grapes grow in most areas; wild Concords and "mustang grapes" here in East TX, also blue muscadines.  They are all edible, but mainly used for jelly and wine. I have 4 commercially-acquired grapevines, one transplanted wild Concord vine, and one bronze muscadine vine in my orchard that I tend.  They give me more fruit than I can use and I give away a lot.  Grapes are fairly easy to tend and will last for decades if cared for.
 
Most wild vines are sterile and can be used as you describe (water source, firewood, leaves for cooking, etc).  If you find a good vine, take a rooting or cutting and transplant it, or just get one at your local nursery.  There have been several discussions on the care and tending of grapes, here on this thread, or we can do it over again if you're interested. 

[Ranger99]

i used to hear the older folks
talk about smoking grape vine.
who can shed some light on that?


mr. layton ? you here somewhere?

[BUGEYE]

As a kid, we'd cut'em and smoke'em.   Sometimes it would blister your tongue.
When I had my own teeth I could eat a muscadine and it made my teeth feel sharp enough to bite a railroad spike in two.
With my false teeth it don't happen.

[Mike in Virginia]

Yep, I've smoked it.  As a kid, I made my pipes from milkweed stems and corncobs.  In the woods, out of sight of adults, I tried it all.  Leaves, grasses, pine needles, willow bark, corn husks, a summer plant called rabbit tobacco, whatever might make smoke.  None of it any good. 
I still smoke a pipe today, but feed it only with Prince Albert.  You don't see pipe smokers much anymore.  It sort of died away about 10 years ago.  Too much trouble, I suppose. 
A really good pipe is made from applewood as the bowl, and a crooked piece of bamboo for the stem.  I've made several.  A Dremmel tool is a good item to hollow out the bowl.  The bamboo mouth piece can be trimmed with a knife down to what suits you.  Sometimes it's difficult to get the stem to fit perfectly into the bowl, and a little smoke might escape there, but that's okay.  A little air getting into the stem or bowl cools the smoke.  And the longer the stem the cooler the smoke. 

[BUGEYE]

Yep, I've smoked it.  As a kid, I made my pipes from milkweed stems and corncobs.  In the woods, out of sight of adults, I tried it all.  Leaves, grasses, pine needles, willow bark, corn husks, a summer plant called rabbit tobacco, whatever might make smoke.  None of it any good. 
I still smoke a pipe today, but feed it only with Prince Albert.  You don't see pipe smokers much anymore.  It sort of died away about 10 years ago.  Too much trouble, I suppose. 
A really good pipe is made from applewood as the bowl, and a crooked piece of bamboo for the stem.  I've made several.  A Dremmel tool is a good item to hollow out the bowl.  The bamboo mouth piece can be trimmed with a knife down to what suits you.  Sometimes it's difficult to get the stem to fit perfectly into the bowl, and a little smoke might escape there, but that's okay.  A little air getting into the stem or bowl cools the smoke.  And the longer the stem the cooler the smoke.

I don't smoke anymore, but I still like the smell of a pipe.  cigarettes stink to me now.

[reliquary]

When I was a kid ('50s), tobacco was so commonly used by members of the family that we didn't have to smoke the substitutes.  Everyone smoked, dipped, or chewed except Mom. 
 
Mullein (aka "rabbit tobacco") is actually a member of the Nicotinia group and has some kick to it.  According to some writers, Indians would use it as a substitute smokeable. 
 
Grapevine adds a decent flavor to smoked meat if you throw a chunk of it on the charcoal.  Green grape-leaves, wrapped around meat and steamed or baked, impart a nice flavor...they're used in Greek cookery a lot. 

[Bob Riebe]

Stuffed grape leaves are good eating.
My grandfather used to cold pickle string beans with grape leaves, outstanding.

As a yout, I used to roll my own using pipe tobacco, good stuff.

[goodshot]

grape leaves help make a great dill pickle for you canners out there.