Somewhere around the year 1000 AD, Leif Ericson sailed from Norway across the North Atlantic Ocean and returned with stories about a new country he named Vinland because of the abundance of wild grapes he found growing there. Historians agree that Vinland was the east coast of North America but they are not sure where exactly Ericson first set foot.
History of Cultivation in the United States
Cultivated varieties of grapes were grown on a large scale in the Old World since the dawn of history. Columbus brought them to Haiti in 1494 and they were later introduced to what is now the eastern United States by colonists.
These early plantings were attacked by a host of pests and diseases that did not seem to affect the native grapes. As a result, hardy new American varieties were developed by selection among the better native wild grapes, or by crossing these with European kinds. The Concord and Catawba varieties of cultivated grapes were created from the wild Northern Fox Grape, and the Scuppernong variety of grapes came from the wild Southern Fox Grape or Muscadine. These varieties still make up three-fourths of the yield of the vineyards east of the Rocky Mountains. The great vine-growing regions of California are more suitable to the Old World varieties of grapes.
The American grapes cannot be identified by shape, size, or color, but by their skin type. They have slip skins that separate easily from the flesh of the grape. The seeds remain attached to the pulp of the grape.
The most common cultivated American variety of grape today is the blue-skinned Concord. Other popular types are the red Catawba, the white (amber) Niagara, and the pink Delaware grape.
Medicinal Uses
The grape has many medicinal properties. Grapes are one of the best known antioxidant foods. Traditionally the sap of grapevines was used by healers to treat skin and eye infections, the leaves were used as a treatment for hemorrhoids, and grapes were used to treat various conditions such as sore throats, nausea, smallpox, cancer, cholera, and kidney and liver disease, among others.
Grape seeds have been found to have many healing properties due to their high phytonutrient content. Resveratrol contained in grape seeds is currently being studied. It is believed that it may inhibit cancer cell production. Grape seeds are believed to be beneficial in treating heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and inflammation.
Other potential healing properties of grape seeds are also being tested. Grape seed extract is being studied for its effects on wound healing, tooth decay, HIV, osteoporosis, skin cancer and sun damage to skin, blood estrogen levels in women, breast cancer, and coronary artery disease. The anthocyanins in grapes work as a natural form of sunscreen.
Wild Grapes
Now, the wild varieties of grape vines in the United States such as the Fox Grape (vitis labrusca) are considered by many to be invasive pests, wrapping around trunks and limbs, strangling and often breaking weaker trees. They can be quite difficult to eradicate because once the vines are well-established, they are strong and if the roots aren’t completely removed they will send up new chutes.
The fruit of the native wild grapes, however, is very well suited for making preserves and wine (if you are up to the challenge of picking.) Typically, the time to harvest wild grapes is in the fall and they become ripe for only 2 to 3 weeks out of the year. The vines tend to snake their way through trees and climb to the tops reaching for the sunlight so they are oftentimes out of reach to the typical human forager, while birds and other tree-climbing wildlife have better access.
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