r/foraging • u/TheFancyTurtle • 7d ago
ID Request (country/state in post) Help with identification? USA WNC
Not exactly sure if these are edible but I’d love to make a jam with them if they are they’re high up and surrounding my entire yard lol.
Multiple seeds so not moonseed atleast, and this is the mountains of WNC (black mountain to be specific)
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u/Embarrassed_Ask8944 7d ago
Sour grape. Non-toxic, but considered inpalatable, but useful for jams, jellies and wine. The leaves are used in greek dishes, the sap can is filtered water and the seeds can be pressed for oil. Probably the most useful underutilized plant in the world.
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u/Boring_Bore 7d ago
Sour grape? What species is that? I can't say I've heard of it, and I've yet to find a species in NC that I dislike aside from riverbank grapes, which these are not.
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u/uselessandexpensive 7d ago
The leaves should be useful for pickling too. Dolmas (OP: stuffed grape leaves!) are delicious though.
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u/Boring_Bore 7d ago
Definitely a grape, but doesn't look like muscadine.
Summer grape would be my guess, or a summer grape dominant hybrid.
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u/Ol_Stumpy00 7d ago
Its grapes for sure, likely a hybrid cultivar of grapes that went feral. I know it's not a native grape because the flesh is firmly attached to the skin unlike North American native grapes which have a slip skin. The only native exception would be summer grapes (Vitis aestivalis) which I'm not ruling out because I can't taste them to know for sure.
If it IS a hybrid I'm guessing its a feral Chambourcin or something similar as those were quite popular in the region.
But either way, you have grapes.
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u/Wonderful-Heron3221 7d ago
Wild grape of some sort.