Muscadine picking???

[captainl]

I have been eying a lot of wild muscadines in the neighbor hood this year. I also have one vine of Jumbo with some grapes this year. I have noticed that the wild ones where generally a week or two ahead of mine. The wild ones are just now slowly starting to change color as are my Jumbo's. However I was playing in the back yard with the kids and looked over my fence and caught site of a wild muscadine vine with %80 of the grapes already dark purple/black. I don't know how this vine escaped my sites until now. Anyhow the problem is that the grapes are about 10 to 15 feet up. I went back there today with an extension clipper and cut a few off to taste. Good flavor, mildly sweet, seeds brownish, skin tough and tart, insides thick jelly. These are the earliest ripening ones around me. But probably will require the most work to get at.

Do these grapes typically lose their tartness when fully ripe?

Will they get very juicy? It seamed minimally juicy...

How long does it take to ripen from when they start changing color? 4 weeks sound about right?

Any other visual determination of ripening?

Are the darkest ones necessarily more ripe, or does the color not correlate to ripeness?

Thanks. Although Ive eaten some as a kid I can't say I've had any at peak ripeness. I also don't want to miss out on them. There are some that have fallen off the vine already. But I think it is probably from the wind and storms the last week or two.

 

[garymc]

They come off the stem easily when they're ripe. Jostle them some with your fingers and the ripe ones will fall off. If you have to pull them off, they're not ripe. The grapes in a cluster will not necessarily ripen at the same time. In fact, that would be unusual. Secondly, squeeze a grape between your thumb and index finger. If it's not soft, it's not ripe. Eat some as you pick and you'll immediately see what ripe and not quite ripe are like.