I was walking with my camera the other day through the back roads of my town when I smelled a musky sweet scent. I knew it had to be grapes....so I began searching. It took a while but I finally spotted them. I had been walking for about 3 miles at this point and my throat was getting a bit dry. The grapes seemed to appear right at a needful time so I picked a bunch and happily walked on down the road, slipping the grapes out of their skins and popping them into my mouth. They don't quite taste like grocery store grapes which have been bred to be sweeter and seedless. Instead they do have seeds...so they can replenish themselves, and they have a taste that is a mixture of sweet and sour. I enjoyed them....especially because they were natural and growing wild right on the side of the road.
The grapes can be eaten raw or made into wine, jam or jelly. The Greeks use grape leaves in cooking. I still haven't tried that but...now that I have mentioned it...I really should look into that aspect because we have many grapevines growing on the edge of our woods. I am in the process of making a grapevine wreath which is pictured below , along with some of my heirloom squashes and pumpkins. I am going to add onto the wreath to make it a bit thicker. Then when the thickness of the wreath is the way you want it, you can hot glue dried apple and orange slices onto it. Isn't it amazing how one type of plant can be useful for so many different things. I think that grapevines can also be made into baskets but I haven't tried that yet.
Here is a very helpful book on foraging
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