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Concord grape
Dark blue or purple grape cultivar

The Concord grape is a cultivar of the Vitis labrusca species, also known as the fox grape. Widely cultivated, it is used as table grapes, for making grape juice, jelly, pies, and grape-flavored soft drinks. Its dark blue or purple skin features a glaucous epicuticular wax "bloom" and is easily separated due to its slip-skin nature. Concord grapes are highly aromatic but prone to black spot disease. Major cultivation occurs in U.S. regions like the Finger Lakes, Lake Erie, and Yakima Valley. The variety is named after Concord, Massachusetts, where it was developed.

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Usage

Concord grapes are often used to make grape jelly and are only occasionally available as table grapes,4 especially in New England. 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, 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.5 Concord grapes have been used to make kosher wine6 and sacramental wine. The oldest sacramental winery in America, O-Neh-Da Vineyard, still produces a Concord wine for the altar.7

History

The Concord grape was developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts.8 Bull planted seeds from wild Vitis labrusca and evaluated over 22,000 seedlings before finding what he considered the ideal Concord grape.9 Genetic testing confirmed that Concord grape has roughly one-third Vitis vinifera parentage.10 The selected Concord vine was planted next to other cultivars, including Catawba, which was later confirmed to be a parent of Concord using systematic SSR analysis.11

In 1853, Bull's grape won first place at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition.12 It was then introduced to the market in 1854. Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed the first Concord grape juice in his house in 1869.13 Through the process of pasteurization, the juice did not ferment.14 Welch transferred the juice operations to Westfield, New York, processing 300 tons of grapes into juice in 1897.15

See also

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References

  1. Irvine, Ronald (1997). The wine project : Washington State's winemaking history. W. J. Clore. Vashon, WA: Sketch Publications. ISBN 0-9650834-9-7. OCLC 37862425. 0-9650834-9-7 ↩

  2. "Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2011 Summary". United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20131231002232/http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/nass/NoncFruiNu//2010s/2012/NoncFruiNu-07-06-2012.txt ↩

  3. "Concord grape". National Grape Association. Archived from the original on September 25, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120925073642/http://www.nationalgrape.com/02b_ccd.shtml ↩

  4. "Why can't I find Concord grapes in the grocery store?". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved October 8, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyfacts.html#question10 ↩

  5. Peck, Garrett (August 3, 2009). The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet. Rutgers University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-8135-4849-4. 978-0-8135-4849-4 ↩

  6. Appelbaum, Yoni (April 14, 2011). "The 11th Plague? Why People Drink Sweet Wine on Passover". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 4, 2011. https://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/the-11th-plague-why-people-drink-sweet-wine-on-passover/73193/ ↩

  7. "O-Neh-Da Authentic Sacramental Wine". O-Neh-Da Vineyard. Archived from the original on May 10, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20090510231800/http://www.onehda.com/Home.php ↩

  8. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩

  9. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩

  10. Sawler J, Reisch B, Aradhya MK, Prins B, Zhong GY, et al. (2013). "Genomics Assisted Ancestry Deconvolution in Grape". PLOS ONE. 8 (11): e80791. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...880791S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080791. PMC 3823699. PMID 24244717. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3823699 ↩

  11. Huber, Franziska; Röckel, Franco; Schwander, Florian; Maul, Erika; Eibach, Rudolf; Cousins, Peter; Töpfer, Reinhard (2016). "A view into American grapevine history: Vitis vinifera cv. 'Sémillon' is an ancestor of 'Catawba' and 'Concord'". Vitis - Journal of Grapevine Research. 55 (2): 53–56. doi:10.5073/vitis.2016.55.53-56. S2CID 87513053. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

  12. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩

  13. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩

  14. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩

  15. "The History of the Concord Grape". Concord Grape Association. Retrieved December 30, 2012. http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html ↩