Interesting Facts On Mountain Grapes
Mountain grapes are scientifically called as “ Vitis monticola ”.
ORIGIN OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
Vitis monticola (Sweet Mountain Grape) is a species of plants in the family Vitaceae. They are climbers. They are native to The Contiguous United States and The Neotropics.
Vitis monticola, is a North American species of wild grape native to Texas. It is important to grape growers for its resistance to drought; a quality exploited both genetically in hybridization, and in grafting.
OTHER NAMES OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
Mountain grapes, sweet mountain grape
APPEARANCE OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
The Mountain grapes fruit is a berry, ovoid in shape and juicy, with a two-celled ovary each containing two ovules, thus normally producing four seeds per flower.
Mountain grapes up to 1/2 inch in diameter, in compact bunches, ripening in August and September, sweet tasting. Commonly black when completely ripe.
TASTES OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
With their natural sweetness and juicy bursts of flavor, Mountain grapes can be delicious in all kinds of preparations and recipes.
ABOUT TREE OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
Mountain grapes tree produce leaf-opposed cymes. Vitis is distinguished from other genera of Vitaceae by having petals which remain joined at the tip and detach from the base to fall together as a calyptra or ‘cap’.
The genus Vitis is divided into two subgenera, Euvitis Planch. have 38 chromosomes (n=19) with berries borne on clusters and Muscadinia Planch. 40 (n=20) with small clusters.
Wild Mountain grapes can resemble the single-seeded Menispermum canadense (moonseed), which is toxic.
FACTS OF MOUNTAIN GRAPES
Mountain grapes were first produced in 1937 in Shizuoka Prefecture, but were not given their present name until 1946.
They are popular in Japan, Taiwan, mainland China, and Korea for their size and very sweet flesh.
The genus of Mountain grapes are made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere.
Mountain grapes are economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine.
The Mountain grapes are blackish-purple, or almost black, with large seeds and juicy flesh with high sugar content and mild acidity.
Mountain grapes is a tetraploid grape variety, as its breeding parents, ‘Ishiharawase’ and ‘Centennial’ are tetraploid bud sports of ‘Campbell Early’ (V. labruscana) and ‘Rosaki’ (V. vinifera), respectively.
Mountain grapes seeds are bitter and the skin is not traditionally eaten.
Mountain grapes maintains some of the flavor qualities of the Concord, known to consumers from the flavor of most grape jellies and Concord grape juice.