Sour Grapes

Welcome to this week?s edition of Something Wild. I?m Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to tour a winery in Italy. As I listened to the guide explain that the key ingredient for making good wine was lousy soil ? the rockier the better ? I thought, ?Hey, We have that in New Hampshire! Why can?t we grow good grapes in the Granite State??

Well, the guide left out a few key details like having the right kind of climate ? we?d need a bit warmer and longer summers to make a good Chianti or Merlot.

But that doesn?t mean we don?t grow grapes ? we have several wild varieties of vines around here, including the northern fox grape. This hardy native species, in fact, lends its genes to many cultivated varieties, including the famous Concord and not so famous Catawba Grapes.

But humans are not the only ones who benefit from our lush wild vines. As its name implies, fox grapes are a favorite of our local wild canines along with a slew of feathered and other four-footed creatures. Many birds strip off bark from its woody vines to weave into their nests and deer even eat its leaves.

And of course, many humans relish wild grape jelly. If you?d like to try some, hunt for the deep-purple clusters of fruits growing on vines entangled along river banks and throughout woodlands. I?d skip the roadside ones, to be safe.

Just so you know, fox grapes tend to be rather puckerish, ? you usually need to wait until a good frost sweetens them up. The only problem, however, is that a hungry bird will have probably beat you to them by then.

Just like that hungry fox in Aesop?s old fable, you can tell yourself that they probably would have been sour anyway. But I?d try again next year!

Something Wild is a joint production of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, NHPR, and New Hampshire Audubon.

For Something Wild, I?m Rosemary Conroy.