The Republican., 1900-12-13
WILD GRAPE HARVEST.
Connecticut FarmhOuses Fragrant
with JeIly-Malking from Them
Used in Making Wine.

Late September is the season of the
wild grape harvest. The crop is not so
is plentiful enough to make ''graping" a
pleasant diversion, writes a Connecti-
cut correspondent of the New York
Sun.
The vines love the stone walls which
they often cover, and the hedge rows
over which they climb and so spread
themselves that the sun cannot fail to
ripen their fruit. Some of them are
very old, and were bearing grapes be-
fore their descendants, the present
well-known table varieties, had come
into being.
The wild grapes are as highly priced
as ever. They are not, as rule, very
good to eat out of hand, but in jellies
and in preserves, such as the women of
this sequestered neighborhood know
how to make, they are unsurpassed.
They have piquancy of flavor that is
not possessed by any tame fruit raised
in New England.
The farmers know where the good
vines are, and watch over them. When
the fruit is ready to pick they take a
few hours off and lay in enough for the
winters supply of sass" Gathering
the grapes is quite another thing to
the novice. He will tramp many miles
sometimes without finding vine with
good fruit. Some are entirely barren,
and others bear grapes that are too
small for use. The most valuable ones
bear purple fruit, whose berries are
larger than those of the Concord grape
which they closely resemble. A va
riety highly priced is white when the
berries first ripen, but turn pale red
soon afterward.
Whoever journeys through this part
of Connecticut these days is pretty sure
to meet the odor of cooking wild grapes
whenever he nears a farmhouse. If
marmalade is the product desired the
grapes are stewed after they have been
carefully stemmed and cleaned As
they boil in the pot they assume all
sorts of delicate tints resembling big
round jewels more than anything else.
They are next put through a sieve that
takes out the seeds and skins, and are
then boiled again, after which sugar is
added. A final cooking is given to melt
the sugar.
In making preserves the pulps are re-
moved from the skin, stewed and sifted.
The skins are added later, together
with sugar, and the cooking process is
resumed.
One of the most delectable produc-
tions from wild grapes is jelly made
from the green fruit. 1t requires a
great deal of work, because each berry
must be opened with a knife and the
seeds extracted. The jelly is green in
color like the grapes.
A drink that is not any more potent
than hard cider is made from the wild
grapes. To each quart of juice three
quarts of water are added along with
three pounds of sugar. The mixture is
put away in jars to ferment. 1t is
drawn off and bottled at the proper
time. Unless one is on very intimate
terms with North Storington family
he is not likely to see any of this wine.
But whoever has drink of it is not
likely to forget the liquor.
None of the wild grapes are shipped
out of North Stonington. Their man
ufacture is too expensive and difficult
to make the business profitable, and be-
sides the grapes are not plentiful
enough to permit of the expectation of
condiments so highly priced at home.