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    Home » Pickles, Preserves, Etc

    Wild Grape Reduction

    Published: Sep 22, 2018 Modified: Feb 6, 2023 by Alan Bergo This post may contain affiliate links 14 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Wondering how to preserve wild grapes? you can reduce the liquid to a thick, molasses similar to saba, or balsamic vinegar reduction. It's fantastic added so sauces, drinks and desserts.

    Wild grape reduction recipe

    Since this one isn't fermented, it's closer to saba than balsamic but unlike saba, the pectin of the wild grapes seems to thicken it a bit, which gives it a consistency closer to a kind of jam, but a loose one. I'm betting that somewhere along the line, someone else has made this before, it's just a hop-skip from picking a bunch of grapes and needing a simple, low-tech way to preserve them.

    Wild river grapes, or Vitis riparia
    Common wild grapes, from Wisconsin.

    Pekmez: a wild grape condiment somewhere in between saba, and pomegranate molasses

    The finished product is brilliantly sour-sweet, fruity and jammy. One things that had me miffed were the slightly crunchy things here and there, not crunchy like I forgot to remove grape seeds, but crisp almost.

    It took me a few days to remember what the small particles in the finished reduction reminded me of: the crystals that occur in really, really good parmesan, Parmigiano Reggiano, and all it's small batch, single source cousins that are popping up, and selling for a king's ransom.

    (For the record I'm guessing they're tartaric acid crystals) If you're a chef and you want the best Regg ever (the farms are numbered, not named for secrecy) contact Great Ciao, they ship stuff, and they're basically the kings of food nerdery and freakishly obscure products.

    Eventually I heard about pekmez, or grape "molasses" made from cooked wild grape or mulberry juice. Although I originally envisioned this to be like saba, the finished product was a little thicker, and is definitely more like molasses than the black saba syrup you can buy in a store. Traditionally, pekmez is often mixed with tahini and used in desserts, or as a spread all by itself, and that sounds really good!

    Ideally, use only cold-pressed wild grape juice 

    Ideally you will use cold-pressed grape juice here, which is not the easiest thing to process. You can cook the grapes briefly if you have to, but know that it will affect the consistency of the finished product and make it seize and firm from the pectin, which means  you will have to warm it to loosen it. 

    Wild grape reduction recipe
    Note the jammy texture, you can lessen it by allowing the grape juice to settle overnight if you want, for my purposes I've really liked it slighlty thick and jammy.

    Using the discarded pits, skins, and sediment 

    The guts leftover after straining can be fermented to make great vinegar, or use them to infuse regular vinegar. Afterwords sometimes I cook it with a little honey and reuduce it like balsamic, or one of the best things I've done is reduce it with a little maple, and add mustard and reduced meat stock as a sauce for grilled pork and chicken.

    Below: a gallon of wild grape vinegar in the works, made from the discard of all my reductions. I'll add last years mother to it once it turns to wine, but it will happen naturally with a little sugar and plenty of time, too. The proportion of vinegar is as follows: to each 2 cups of fruit guts, add ¼ cup sugar and 4 cups of water.

    Wait until the fermentation slows (about 4-5 days) then strain and pour back into the container, and wait. I don't always use the discard, but the infusions come out so strong with wild grapes that it's definitely worth the trouble to play with them.

    Wild Grape Vinegar
    See the recipe for vinegar in Fruit Scrap Vinegar.

    A sugar-free preserve/condiment for flavoring sauces, stews, marinades, etc.

    I liked the results I got after trying a small batch with a cup or so, and then three larger ones, increasing the volume of juice I used each time.

    I should be clear about my goal for using this stuff though: it would be killer with some rich cheese, but I'll be using it to flavor sauces and stews, and honestly, probably some basic sweet and sour red cabbage. It's an interesting way to preserve wild grapes as I don't eat jam and jelly much.

    Sure, you can definitely preserve a harvest of fruit by adding a ton of sugar and jarring, but at the end of the day, I don't want to eat all that sugar, and I'll probably end up giving away the jars to friends as they collect dust anyway, just so that those friends can have the jars collect dust in their cabinets.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not against making fruit preserves with sugar, but I like making them with as little sugar as possible, and I just like to have extra tools in the kit when the season is really kicking.

    Wild grape reduction recipe
    Wild grape reduction recipe
    Print Recipe
    5 from 3 votes

    Wild Grape Juice Reduction (Homemade Saba)

    A tangy reduction of wild grape juice with a character similar to pomegranite syrup
    Course: Snack
    Cuisine: Italian
    Keyword: Reduction, Saba, Wild grape
    Author: Alan Bergo

    Equipment

    • Cheesecloth
    • Foodmill, preferably with set up with a medium die
    • Fine Strainer
    • Non-reactive sauce pot, such as stainless steel
    • Whisk

    Ingredients

    • Wild grapes
    • Red wine vinegar a few tablespoons

    Instructions

    Harvest

    • For an easy, clean harvest, cut the clusters of grapes off the vine using a good scissors. Bring the grapes clusters home, dip them in a sink of cool water to clean them, then don some gloves and remove the grapes from the vines. If you prefer to leaves the grapes on the racemes to make processing them easier, it's ok, but I do recommend washing them.

    Extract the Juice Cold

    • Take the cleaned grapes and put them in a large sauce pot, then mash the grapes vigorously with a potato masher as if they owe you money. Stir the mixture from bottom to top, then mash again.
    • Consider doing this part outside since wild grape juice can make your kitchen look like it was finger paint time at daycare. When the grapes are mushed up as well as you can manage, add water just to barely cover them and mix it well. If you want, you can gently buzz it with a stick/hand blender, although it may take more time to drain.

    Strain

    • Take the resulting liquid and strain through cheesecloth in a chinois or another strainer, trying not to press or squeeze too hard. The pulp that's left over can be used to make really cool homemade vinegar, or just infuse regular white wine or red wine vinegar (Grape essence is extremely vinegar and alcohol soluble). Allow the juice to rest overnight so the sediment can settle.
    • Without disturbing the liquid too much, pour off the juice from the top and reserve, discarding the sediment at the bottom of the jar.
    • Measure the juice to see how much there is so you have a benchmark for reducing by 50% in volume.

    Reduce

    • Return the juice to the cleaned pot, adding 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar per 2 cups (optional but recommended if you will be canning it) and simmer on medium-high until reduced by half and the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
    • Depending on how well you strained it, and if you allowed it to settle overnight and remove some of the tartaric acid crystals, the juice may be a little syrupy, or it could start to bubble and spurt like mine.
    • Whatever happens, and however you want it to turn out, make damn sure not to over cook or allow the bottom of the pan to char in any way or the finished product will taste off.
    • Transfer the reduction to a mason jar, label, date and refrigerate. The reduction will last for a few months under refrigeration, wipe the jar's lid with vinegar occasionally to ward off mold. You can also process the jars in a water bath, 12 minutes for pints as for regular pickles. Use the sauce anywhere you would use pomegranate molasses.

    Notes

    Saving grape vines for smoking 

    If you're industrious or a culinary adventurer, save the wild grape vines for drying as they're great for smoking, (a trick I learned from my old boss and friend Chef Lenny Russo) and you can also do things with the ash that remains (traditionally it's added to some cooked grape juice products, says Leda Merideth)
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Judy Krohn

      September 22, 2018 at 3:24 pm

      I'll be giving this a tryout with some concord grapes that I've been offered. The Milton Creamery in Milton, IA makes a great white cheddar cheese, "Prairie Breeze" that has those little crystals in it too.

      Reply
    2. LaRae

      September 22, 2018 at 4:05 pm

      You have inspired me to pick the grapes draping over the fence in our backyard. Excited to try this!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 25, 2018 at 9:53 am

        Thanks, it's a fun way to use grapes.

        Reply
    3. Roy Harsch

      September 22, 2018 at 6:02 pm

      Lately I have been using my crockpot to reduce things like tomato sauce, canned tomatoes and fruit butters. I would think that it would work well reducing the cooked juice. Greatly cuts down on stirring and little chance for burning the continents.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 25, 2018 at 9:52 am

        Yes, a crockpot would work will, I use them all the time for things like this, but I do it outside since the smell keeps my girlfriend awake.

        Reply
    4. Joanne Burnett

      September 23, 2018 at 6:19 pm

      I have been harvesting wild grapes for several years to make jelly and or slurpy syrup( my name for it) for ice cream. I never knew what to do with the seeds and skins. I'm thinking I have to try make some vinegar. Your blog has helped me try more foraged foodstuffs. Thank you so much!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 25, 2018 at 9:48 am

        You're welcome so much.

        Reply
    5. the.edible.north

      September 26, 2018 at 8:30 am

      I've just found my first 2 cups' worth of wild black cherries and I'm wondering if following your methods here, might work for them also? Your comments about avoiding the default 'I'll just make jam' resonate with me, especially since I have a small yield here...

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        October 01, 2018 at 2:15 pm

        Yeah that should work fine. If you want to torture yourself try making mahleb afterwords with the pits, lol.

        Reply
    6. Ellen

      February 09, 2019 at 10:37 pm

      So now I want to know if I can make mahleb with the pits of my chokecherries AFTER I strain them out of the rye whiskey they're macerating in. I'm making chokecherry bounce, and i have another two months to go. I'd never heard of mahleb and I'm used to torturing myself.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        February 10, 2019 at 8:51 am

        I would assume so, but it sounds onerous to me! Probably something I'll buy, like black walnuts. 🙂

        Reply
    7. JessB

      March 19, 2022 at 10:46 am

      5 stars
      “Mash the grapes as if they owe you money” lololol
      I’ve been using this wild grape reduction to flavor kombucha all winter (beautiful color!), and just rediscovered a jar of vinegar. It looks like some sediment settled to the bottom over the months untouched, so I’m assuming it makes sense to decant a second time. Thanks for the fun project, Chef!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        March 19, 2022 at 12:22 pm

        Glad it worked for you. I love wild grapes. Yes you can rack/decant it, it's probably tartaric acid from the grapes.

        Reply

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    Chef Alan Bergo

    HI, I'm Alan: James Beard Award-winning Chef, Author, Show Host and Forager. I've been writing about cooking wild food here for over a decade. Let me show you why foraging is the most delicious thing you'll ever do.

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