Concord grape

The skin of a Concord grape is typically dark blue or purple and often is covered with a glaucous epicuticular wax "bloom" that can be rubbed off. It is a slip-skin variety, meaning the skin is easily separated from the fruit. The Concord grape has a large seed and is highly aromatic. It is sometimes described as having a "foxy" flavor, referring to a sweet, musky accent.^[3]

The Concord grape is particularly prone to the physiological disorder black spot.^[4]

In the United States, 417,800 tons were produced in 2011.^[5]

The major growing areas are the Finger Lakes District of New York, the Lake Erie Viticultural Area, areas around Lake Ontario, Southwestern Michigan, and the Yakima Valley in Washington.^[2][6] The grape is sometimes found growing wild.^{[citation needed]}

Concord was the most widely grown grape variety on the North American continent in 1923 and accounted for at least 75 percent of the vines in the eastern United States.^[7] Cultivation of Concord grapes began in the Yakima Valley in 1904.^[2]

Concord grapes are the main grape used to manufacture grape juice, with Welch's as the largest juice producer.^[2] It may be used to make grape jelly, grape juice, grape pies, grape-flavored soft drinks, and candy. It is the usual grapes used in the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Concord grape jelly is a staple product in U.S. supermarkets. Its distinctive purple color has led to grape-flavored soft drinks and candy being artificially colored purple.^{[citation needed]}

The dark-colored Concord juice is used in some churches as a non-alcoholic alternative to wine in the service of communion.^[8] Concord is occasionally found as a table grape,^[9] especially in New England. The grape is sometimes used to make wine, particularly kosher^[10] and sacramental wine. The oldest sacramental winery in America, O-Neh-Da Vineyard, still produces a Concord wine for the altar.^[11] Traditionally, most commercially produced Concord wines are sweet, but dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved.^{[citation needed]}

The Concord grape was developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts.^[12] Bull planted seeds from wild Vitis labrusca, and evaluated over 22,000 seedlings, including hybrids crossed with Vitis vinifera, before finding what he considered the ideal Concord grape.^[12] Genetic testing confirmed that Concord grape is roughly one-third Vitis vinifera.^[13] The selected Concord vine was planted next to other cultivars, including Catawba, which was later confirmed to be a parent of Concord using systematic SSR analysis.^[1]

In 1853, Bull's grape won first place at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition.^[12] It was then introduced to the market in 1854. Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed the first Concord grape juice in his house in 1869.^[12] Through the process of pasteurization, the juice did not ferment.^[12] Welch transferred the juice operations to Westfield, New York, processing 300 tons of grapes into juice in 1897.^[12] By the 21st century, Welch's grape juice was manufactured in a large juicing factory located in Grandview, Washington.^[2]

• 
  Ripe grapes (foreground) and unripe green grapes (background). Unripe grapes can be made into verjuice.
• 
  Concord grapes growing on Grape Island in the Hingham Bay area of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area in Massachusetts.
• 
  Colorized photographic plate of Concord grape from the book The Grapes of New York, 1908 by Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick

• Muscadine
• Scuppernong