History
The Concord grape was developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts. Bull planted seeds from wild Vitis labrusca and evaluated over 22,000 seedlings before finding what he considered the perfect grape, the original vine of which still grows at his former home. The pollen parent is unknown. Although Concord is frequently considered to be basically a Vitis labrusca cultivar, some have argued that the hermaphrodite flowers suggest at least a small amount of Vitis vinifera in its pedigree. This trait has not been proven to exist in any native American grapes. However, Concord is definitely much more labrusca-like in its characteristics than vinifera-like. Many consider the likely male parent to have been Catawba, itself probably half Vitis labrusca, which Bull had growing nearby.
In 1853, Bull's grape won first place at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. It was then introduced to the market in 1854. Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed the first Concord grape juice in 1869. Through the process of pasteurization, the juice did not ferment. Welch originally introduced the grape juice to his church, to be used for communion.
Read more about this topic: Concord (grape)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of medicine is the history of the unusual.”
—Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Prof. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll)
“The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)