Wild Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia)

Family: Vitaceae | Edibility: Edible (3/5)

A vigorous high-climbing native woody vine with shreddy bark, large three-lobed coarsely toothed leaves, forked climbing tendrils, and hanging clusters of small dark blue-black grapes coated with a frosty pale bloom.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit, Leaves, Shoots

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer, Spring, Winter

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Intensely rich, sharp, sweet-tart, deeply vinous concord grape flavor with robust natural acidity — Grapes harvested in autumn, preferably after a light frost that concentrates sugars; Pressed for full-bodied, deep purple wild grape juice, wild grape jelly, and wild wine; Tender young grape leaves harvested in late spring, blanched in salted water, and wrapped around wild rice or ground meat (wild dolmas); Tender spring vine shoots peeled and eaten raw as tart, crunchy thirst-quenching snacks

Habitat & North American Range

Riverbanks, streamsides, bottomland woods, fencerows, and moist thickets. (Zone 2, Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7)