In our poor land, we tried unsuccessfully to cultivate noble grape varieties. Unfortunately, we have failed. Fortunately, a neighbor came to our aid and gave us some twigs from his bushes growing on the barn. These weren't that picky about growing!
Now the end of summer means for me the pleasant activity of harvesting grapes from my own vineyard. They mature successively, which is why it takes up to two weeks. The white bunches are always ready to pick a little earlier than the red ones. Thanks to this, I have a lot of time to process them calmly. Neither I nor my family disdain the taste of grapes picked and eaten straight from the bushes.
These are the best, although there is some danger. For several years now, my competitors have been wasps, for which ripe grapes are quite a delicacy. Their presence in the vineyard does not make my work easier. If I don't want to get stung, I have to watch each group from several sides and knock off any intruder.I don't think there is anything to do with wasps. Some guides recommend closing the maturing grapes in paper bags. With my fifteen bushes, it would be a difficult, tiring, and even worse - time-consuming task.
I always have to choose the right moment for the harvest - when the fruits are ripe enough and the wasps have not yet had time to suck the juice out of most
of them. Despite this unwanted company, I still get about 20 kg of grapes from a six-year-old vineyard. This is a sufficient amount for the needs of the family.Just picking grapes does not pose many problems for me. I trim the ripe clusters within my reach with a small secateurs.Then I gently arrange them in small containers.
I usually call my husband to the clusters located a bit higher. Sometimes it happens that I am forced to do it from a folding ladder, not too high.During the grape harvest I try not to miss any ready-to-collect bunches. Therefore it is important to have both hands free when harvesting. You have to keep moving through the thicket of leaves and young shoots.
When we are all sufficiently satisfied with the wonderful, delicious grapes, I can think about starting preserves. I am not an advocate of preserving the picked fruit with sugar, so I leave my preserves in their natural state. I squeeze the juice in the juicer. I make it from white and red grapes separately.
Then I act in two ways: I simply freeze some of them in plastic containers adapted for this purpose. I pour some into an enamel pot. Bring it almost to a boil, then pour it to the brim into well-steamed jars.Such juice kept in the cold does not deteriorate until the next summer.
Of course, freezer juice retains much more vitamins and minerals, and at the same time it is much tastier. Unfortunately, I don't always have enough space to store it.
I also spend a lot of red grapes on home wine. Our taste is dry, not too strong, enriched with a small amount of blackcurrant juice. It is they that give it its excellent aroma and delicate tartness. Well, it's a matter of taste.
Grapes, although high in calories, contain a lot of vitamin C, organic acids and trace elements. That is why I always try to make theirtaste and he alth values accompany me and my family throughout the year.
Jadwiga Antonowicz-Osiecka
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