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The Concord grape is a
cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
derived from the
grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
species '' Vitis labrusca'' (also known as fox grape) that are used as
table grape Table grapes are grapes intended for consumption while fresh, as opposed to grapes grown for wine production, juice production, or for drying into raisins. ''Vitis vinifera'' table grapes can be in the form of either seeded or non-seeded varieta ...
s,
wine grapes This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Vit ...
and juice grapes. They are often used to make grape jelly, grape juice,
grape pie Grape pie is a type of fruit pie made from Concord grape and is part of harvest time traditions in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. It is particularly sought after at the Naples Grape Festival, and can be found at various s ...
s, grape-flavored
soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...
s, and candy. The grape is sometimes used to make
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...
, particularly
sacramental A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action (in Latin ''sacramentalia'') ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Cat ...
and
kosher wine Kosher wine () is wine that is produced in accordance with ''halakha'', and more specifically ''kashrut'', such that Jews will be permitted to pronounce blessings over and drink it. This is an important issue, since wine is used in several Jewi ...
. Traditionally, most commercially produced Concord wines have been finished sweet, but dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved. The grape is named after the town in Massachusetts where it was developed. The skin of a Concord grape is typically dark blue or purple, and often is covered with a glaucous
epicuticular wax Epicuticular wax is a coating of wax covering the outer surface of the plant cuticle in land plants. It may form a whitish film or bloom on leaves, fruits and other plant organs. Chemically, it consists of hydrophobic organic compounds, mainly st ...
"bloom" that can be rubbed off. It is a slip-skin variety, meaning that the skin is easily separated from the fruit. Concord grapes have large seeds and are highly aromatic. The Concord grape is particularly prone to the physiological disorder black spot. In the United States 417,800 tons were produced in 2011. The major growing areas are the
Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...
District of New York,
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...
,
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
, Southwestern
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
, and the Yakima Valley in Washington. They are sometimes found growing wild.


Usage

Concord grapes are often used to make grape jelly and are only occasionally available as table grapes, especially in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. They are the usual grapes used in the jelly for the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Concord grape jelly is a staple product in U.S. supermarkets. Concord grapes are used for grape juice, and their distinctive purple color has led to grape-flavored soft drinks and candy being artificially colored purple.
Methyl anthranilate Methyl anthranilate, also known as MA, methyl 2-aminobenzoate, or carbomethoxyaniline, is an ester of anthranilic acid. Its chemical formula is C8H9NO2. It has a strong and fruity grape smell, and one of its key uses is as a flavoring agent. Che ...
, a chemical present in Concord grapes, is used to give "grape" flavor. The dark colored Concord juice is used in some churches as a non-alcoholic alternative to wine in the service of communion. Concord grapes have been used to make
kosher wine Kosher wine () is wine that is produced in accordance with ''halakha'', and more specifically ''kashrut'', such that Jews will be permitted to pronounce blessings over and drink it. This is an important issue, since wine is used in several Jewi ...
and sacramental wine. The oldest sacramental winery in America, O-Neh-Da Vineyard, still produces a Concord wine for the altar. Non-toxic sprays that contain methyl anthranilate can be sprayed on the bushes as a cost-effective bird control management. The spray repellent renders the fruit and foliage unpalatable to the birds.


History

The Concord grape was developed in 1849 by
Ephraim Wales Bull Ephraim Wales Bull (March 4, 1806 – September 26, 1895) was an American farmer, best known for the creation of the Concord grape. Biography Ephraim Wales Bull was born on March 4, 1806, in Boston, Massachusetts.
in
Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the co ...
. Bull planted seeds from wild '' Vitis labrusca'' and evaluated over 22,000 seedlings before finding what he considered the ideal Concord grape.
Genetic testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
confirmed that Concord grape has roughly one-third ''
Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are cur ...
'' parentage. The selected Concord vine was planted next to other cultivars including
Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...
, which was later confirmed to be a parent of Concord using stematic SSR analysis. In 1853, Bull's grape won first place at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. It was then introduced to the market in 1854. Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed the first Concord
grape juice Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as '' must''. The sugars in grape juice allow it to ...
in his house in 1869. Through the process of
pasteurization Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. ...
, the juice did not
ferment Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...
. Welch transferred the juice operations to
Westfield, New York Westfield is a town in the western part of Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 4,513 at the 2020 census. Westfield is also the name of a village within the town, containing 65% of the town's population. This unique to ...
, processing 300 tons of grapes into juice in 1897.


Gallery

Image:ConcordGrapes2.jpg, Ripe grapes (foreground) and unripe grapes (background). Unripe grapes can be made into
verjuice Verjuice ( ; from Middle French ''vertjus'' 'green juice') is a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crab-apples or other sour fruit. Sometimes lemon or sorrel juice, herbs or spices are added to change the flavour. In the ...
. File:Concord grapes on Grape Island.jpg, Concord grapes growing on Grape Island, Massachusetts. File:Concord grape.jpg, Photographic plate of Concord grape from the book ''The Grapes of New York'', 1908 by
Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick (1870–1951) was an American botanist and horticulturist. His main interest was cultivated fruit trees and he published a number of volumes dealing with such fruits as cherries, grapes, plums, and peaches. Biography ...


See also

*
Muscadine ''Vitis rotundifolia'', or muscadine, is a grapevine species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. The growth range extends from Florida to New Jersey coast, and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma. It has been extensive ...
*
Scuppernong The scuppernong is a large variety of muscadine (''Vitis rotundifolia''), a species of grape native to the Southern United States. It is usually a greenish or bronze color and is similar in appearance and texture to a white grape, but rounder an ...


References


External links


Concord Grape Association

National Grape Cooperative
{{Wines Concord, Massachusetts Table grape varieties Red wine grape varieties