Our wild grape vines have many grapes left on them. It has already frosted over and last week, snow. Is it o.k. to harvest the grapes to make another batch of wild grape jelly?
Thank you for contacting the Toronto Master Gardeners with your inquiry.
There is nothing better than a jar of homemade wild grape jelly on warm freshly baked bread.
Like grapes that are left on the vines for ice wine, a frost can concentrate the sugars in the grapes making them sweeter. You can harvest your grapes within a week or two after the first light frost since your grapes are still ripening on the vine. However, if a hard frost has occurred and the foliage has died back, the grapes will no longer ripen. They should be picked immediately before they dry out on the vine.