Raisin: Image via Wikipedia

Grapes have more uses than being the base for wine, though that is there most important role. Grapes can become raisins and jellies and jams.  Raisins were prized in Ancient Rome. One slave would be exchanged for two jars of raisins. Seedless black Greek grapes became raisins known as currants. The French called seedless grape as raisins de Corinthe, the Greek city of Cornith supposedly being the home of the medieval grape that now bears its name – in the form of currant. Grapes can also become jelly, jam, brandy, vinegar and grape seed oil, which is now used in many body butters.  The skins, seeds and stems can be distilled into pomace brandies like Italian grappa, French marc, Portuguese aguardente and the zivania of Cyprus. Grapes can also be used in dyes and its leaves in dolmades – rice and sometimes meat rolled in leaves and eaten in the Mediterranean. Grape vines are used in wreaths and baskets.

In 1869, Thomas Welch, a New Jersey dentist and promoter of prohibition, decided that people needed a grape product that was not alcohol to imbibe. He began to make grape juice which he pasteurised. He had the grapes boiled then pressed and re-boiled. He bottled the product as “unfermented wine”. He attempted to get his own Methodist church but they turned him down, preferring real wine.  He won the day in the end, so to speak, as Welch’s is now a name brand in juice, jam and jelly. Welch used the dark-blue Concord grape which is native to Massachusetts and is more than rich enough for juice and jam.  It is sometimes used in Kosher wine for its sweetness. The Concord grape was developed by Ephraim Bull in 1849, in Concord from viti labrusca vines.

Concord grapes being boiled to make juice: Image via Wikipedia

Glass of grape juice: Image via Wikipedia