Concord grapes froze

10 years ago

This is likely a moot point but, can you do anything with Concord grapes after they freeze?
Our neighbor has a huge stretch of grapevines and they were loaded this year, just gorgeous! I picked several times over a few days and still left so many out there.

They were very ripe and starting to fall from the vines. I could hear "plop-plops" as I snipped the clusters. They were so good, every so often some didn't make it into the pans.

This week we had some temperatures in the 20's at night, so I am sure the grapes must have froze. However, I know that some wineries make an "ice" wine, where they let the grapes freeze and the sugars concentrate, so I started to wonder if maybe the grapes weren't totally lost yet? I figured this was the place to ask, am I still able to use them for juice?

P.S. I have a "new" (but well used!) steam canner this year. Oh I love it!

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Comments (4)

seysonn
10 years ago
In Germany they make a wine called Ice wine(eiswein). They make it from the grapes after frost , with ice on it. This is one of the more expensive wines.

Grapes, because of its sugar content should not be damaged by a light frost.
2ajsmama
10 years ago
Did you keep them frozen or did they thaw? From this article on ice wine, it seems that if you press them frozen the sugar content is higher - that could make an interesting jelly with less added sugar, or nice grape juice even if you don't want to ferment it. But I don't know what happens if you thaw them.

You could also just keep them frozen to eat as snacks, float in a fruit punch, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ice wine
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myfamilysfarm
10 years ago
They are better after a frost, don't know about a freeze tho. that's what I've been told by the orchard that I get from.
seysonn
10 years ago
The sugar contents of grape is dissolved in water. So, It will take a deep freeze , for a prolonged time to separate the water and freeze it. A shallow frost won't do that.