wild grapes- blessing or curse?

[mopinko]

our lot has an old wild grape that had pretty much eaten about 50' of fence. we did hack it back this winter, but didn't really make up our mind about whether to really root it out or to try to contain it. it isn't really in the way or anything.
there is still a good bit of it there, and yesterday DH came out to find 5 greek ladies picking leaves. he assured them that it was fine. they sadly noted that there used to be a lot more. i think the ladies will survive if we take it out, as it is common around here.
i, personally, have never used the leaves for anything, but i suppose i could learn a few recipes. i don't know what, if anything, the grapes are good for. i tried a couple of the dried ones that were still on the vines. they are tasty, and extremely purple. but they are as much seed as grape.
i could always feed this stuff to the chickens.

so, anybody have a strong opinion about wild grapes?

[ret5hd]

1. sounds to me like you got 50' of free wine.

[Denninmi]

2. Well, it's probably Vitis riparia

Which is the most common wild grape in the Great Lakes region. The fruit is very small and seedy, as you note. If you want to go to the bother, it does make awesome jelly, but you have to pick a lot of it because its so small and so much waste.

Honestly, five Greek ladies could probably get all of the leaves they needed if it only covered five or 10 feet of fence. You probably could live without it entirely, or at least live with a lot, lot less of it. Long run, if you WANTED something to cover the fence, why not take that out and replace with either table or wine grapes of some sort, something with more use for the space it takes up?

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I have no strong opinion about the grapes,

but do know that they are not much to eat. It can grow crazy, but if it is in an area of little concern, that is not a problem. Birds and other critters do eat them, and that is a plus in my mind.

But if you want to try cooking with the grape leaves, why not ask the Greek ladies what to do? They are probably making dolmades (stuffed grape leaves). Personally, I don't care for them. I am of Polish descent, and we stuff cabbage leaves...which are not as pungent tasting as the grape leaves. You fill them with a rice or rice/meat mixture, roll them, and bake. There are lots of recipes and instructions on how to roll them online.

[shraby]

4. My Mother used to put a grape leaf in her dill pickles she canned in the fall. She

said it makes them crisper. She also would can the wild grapes whole and when we used them it was for the grape juice, not the grapes.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I used to make a lot of wild grape jelly/jam when I lived in Minnesota.

[Robb]

6. Make wine. You'll never regret it.

Try here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/american-wild-grape-wine-12743/

[Whisp]

7. recipe for Dolmas - stuffed grape leaves

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dolmas-stuffed-grape-leaves/

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, minced
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons dried currants
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 tablespoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (8 ounce) jar grape leaves, drained and rinsed

Directions

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Stir in rice and hot water to cover. Cover and simmer until rice is half cooked, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in tomato paste, currants, pine nuts, cinnamon, mint leaves, dill weed, allspice and cumin. Let mixture cool.
Prepare a large pot by placing an inverted plate on the bottom; this protects the dolmas from direct heat when steaming.
Rinse grape leaves in warm water; drain and cut off any stems. Place about 1 teaspoon of the cooled rice mixture in the center of a leaf. Fold in the sides and then roll into a cigar shape. Place in prepared pot. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Pour in just enough warm water to reach the bottom of the first layer of dolmas. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, or until rice is totally cooked. Check the water level often and add more as necessary.

===
my mum used to make a much simpler variation of these with bread dough wrapped in beet leaves, with lots of garlic and bacon grease and baked in the oven.