History of Thompson seedless grape

Originally called “Sultanina”, Thompson seedless is thought to have originated in Persia in Asia Minor, in an area that now makes up parts of Iran and Turkey. It has been carried from region to region by civilized man in all temperate climates, and has been grown more recently in subtropical climates.

Between 120 and 900 BC the Phoenicians started vineyards in Spain and Greece. Concurrently the Armenians founded vineyards in present day Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Seedless grape further named for William Thompson, the first person to grow the seedless grapes in California around the return of the twentieth century.

Its use spread throughout Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, northern Africa and then to Europe and it was from Europe that it came to America, South Africa and Australia.

It was bought by the Spaniards to Mexico and areas now occupied by California and Arizona. English settlers brought the Old-World grape with them and made plantings along the Atlantic seaboard in the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virama North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The variety of seedless grape was introduced into California in 1872 by William Thompson of Yuba City. Thompson acquired cuttings from the Elwanger and Barry nursery of Rochester, New York which described the variety as a grape from Constantinople grown in English hothouses under the varietal name ‘Lady De Coverly’.

The variety was quickly accepted by local planters, who misnamed it ‘Thompson Seedless’, an appellation that remained with it throughout its development and use in California. The variety’s mostly accepted name in the literature in ‘Sultanina,’ a derivation of ‘Sultanieh.’ These seedless grapes would eventually dominate fresh sales as well as raisin production.

By the 1840s, railways link made possible to ship grapes from southern states to northern states, making grapes available for a longer time in the summer. By 1880s, table grapes were commonly shipped from California to eastern markets.

Era before 1876. when Thompson seedless grapes were first introduced, the grape industry had been limited by the very tedious process of seeding the common muscat raisin. By introduction of seedless grape, the industry flourished.
History of Thompson seedless grape

History of Concord grapes

New England is the birthplace of the Concord grape. The Concord grape owes it origin to Ephraim Wales Bull, whose occupation was goldbeating, making gold leaf out of gold, and whose avocation was gardening. In 1840, he moved from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts where he would have more land to pursue his hobby.

It grew from a seed planted in 1843, which bore fruit in 1849. According to him, some boys brought wild grape up from the river and scattered them around his property.  A seedling appeared which he tended and when it fruited he panted seed from it.

Prior to the appearance of the Concord, grape growing in Eastern American had limited success. Bull planted some 22,000 seedlings before he had produced the grape that would own the jelly market his cutting eventually garnering him a tidy $1,000 apiece.

It took a man from New Jersey to turn Bull’s grape into an American legend.  In 1869 Dr. Thomas Welch, boiled and sieved 40 pounds of Concord grapes and employing the Pasteur method of sterilization, proceeded to bottle the world’s first 12 quarts of fresh, unfermented grape juice.

Today US grape farmers harvest more Concord grapes than all other varieties combined.
History of Concord grapes

Grape Juice and Wine

Grape Juice and Wine
Ancient Egyptian inscription indicate that the grape was grown there in 2375 B.C. Murals to Egyptian tombs carry depictions of grape vines, grape harvesting, and trampling to obtain the juice.

By way of classical Greece and later Rome, the grape vine expanded into all the lands of Europe and North Africa where it will grow.

The Greeks cultivated the grape vine wherever they went; Italy, north Africa, southern France and southern Spain, including the best known wine regions of the world, Bordeaux and Burgundy. The Greeks called Italy the Land of Vines.

Romans grew different varieties and appreciated their diversity. Grapes were grown on trees and trellises, preferentially on terraced hills and banks surrounding river valleys. Romans aged wine in barrels, which they invented. Before then it had been kept in earthenware amphorae.

Grape juice changes naturally into wine when sugar fermenting yeast is present. When grapes are crushed with the skins, yeast comes in contact with the juice. It grows in the juice, using the sugar as its source of energy, and in process transforms the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Alcohol in high concentrations is toxic, and when it reaches a certain level (between 12 and 14 percent), most strains of yeasts cannot grow any more. The wine is now ready. It is young wine and tastes very much likes grape juice alcohol. When the first fermentation is completed (sometimes even before), and especially if the wine is in a warm palace and exposed to the air, special bacteria start growing on the alcohol and transforming it into acetic acid. The wine spoils and turns to vinegar.

Since remotest antiquity, the principal problem was not to make wine but to keep it from spoiling. In classical Greece wines were drunk young and most were probably vinegary. To counter the acid taste a variety of methods were employed. Greeks learned that air speeds up the spoiling process. Amphorae had narrow necks to reduce the contact of wine with air, and they were kept tightly stoppered.

Because air could penetrate earthenware surfaces, the Greeks line their amphorae with resin. This preserved wine for use in commerce. The Romans took a step forward when they invented wooden barrels. They could be stoppered better than amphorae, and the oak imparted flavor from the wine. Some Roman wines apparently kept very well. There are reports of vintages that lasted to a hundred years.
Grape Juice and Wine