All plants /Vine /Mustang Grape
Mustang Grape
Vitis mustangensis, grape family. Common in Central and East Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Ripe purple grapes; young leaves
- How
- Jelly, juice, country wine; raw only in small amounts
- When
- Fruit June to August
- Where
- Fence lines, creek bottoms, woodland edges
- Value
- Sugars, vitamin C
Caution: Raw juice is harsh with acid and can irritate skin and mouth; wear gloves for big harvests. Confirm the felty white underside of the leaf, since peppervine, which sickens, shares the habit.
Harvesting
Look for low-hanging clusters on fence lines in high summer, and take only what the vine gives easily. A single healthy mustang vine can carry pounds of fruit, so there is no need to strip any one plant.
In the kitchen
The acid that makes these grapes rough raw is exactly what makes them shine as jelly and wine. Cook, strain, and sweeten, and you get a deep purple preserve that tastes like a Texas summer.
Photo: Ddal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.