You are used to table grapes, seedless, of course, with edible thin skins.
Concord grapes are another animal altogether. Last year we went on a vacation to see relatives in upstate NY and Canada. My father-in-law Joe is a farmer/rancher, who now raises beef cattle and who ran a dairy for many years. So my Aunt Lorna arranged for him to visit a local grape farmer and see his huge mechanical harvester.
Concord Grapes
Proprietor of Butternut Hollow/Deakin Farms is none other than Jim Deakin, a good friend of my Aunt’s and my two other favorite English teachers on this planet, Joan and Margaret. He played host to us and our guests and showed us all the equipment that helps him and his crew grow and pick grapes. We thank him for his kindness and hospitality.
The boys 1/4 mile away (next door, where we lived) taught me at the age of eight the proper way to eat a Concord grape. Take the grape and squeeze the insides between your lips, discarding the thick skin. Suck the pulp in through clenched teeth. Two or three seeds will remain outside and should be properly spat upon the ground of the vineyard you are legally picking from. Swallow the pristine pulp.
We lived next to a vineyard for three years from my age 8-10 and were told we could eat all the grapes we wanted but if the Conti brothers, the owners, ever caught us having grape fights we’d be forbidden access. Every day en route to and from the school bus hut in September and October I’d eat at least eight bunches per day! Even now, as I can’t pick them fresh in Texas, I sometimes buy a bottle of Welch’s white grape juice just to remember the taste.
Perhaps I’ll find you an Italian recipe I had in cooking school south of Florence, Italy. It was grape-picking season and at harvest time they make schiacciata a’l uvo, sort of a sweet grape pizza with wine grapes in their skins and their seeds, strewn with sugar. It’s tasty but you can only order it in restaurants in the fall.
