Grapes

The grape was one of the first fruits to be cultivated by man. Since the dawn of civilisation, the fermented product of grapes, wine, has probably been an important way of consuming grapes (McGovern et al. 1995). Wine residues have been identified in 7000-year-old jars in Iran (McGovern et al. 1996). However, consumption of the fresh and dried fruit has probably always been popular where the vines grew wild. This chapter provides some basic information about the cultivation of grapes (this section) before looking at the physiology and biochemistry of the developing and mature grape berry. The final three sections of the chapter deal with post-harvest aspects of grapes pertaining to the three main product types: beverages (wine and juice), fresh fruit (table grapes) and dried fruit (sultanas, raisins and currants). Although today most grapes are converted to wine, the development of the post-harvest technology for grapes has concentrated on the fresh fruit. This is because all the eating-quality parameters (appearance, texture and taste) must be high in the commercial product. The quality of grapes for wine, drying or for other grape products is primarily dependent on harvesting the right varieties at the right time and preventing unwanted chemical changes during processing. The topic of wine production is so huge that this chapter describes only the quality factors required in the harvested grape as the basis of a good wine. Details of processing are omitted but references are given for further reading on this topic. There is relatively little published on the specific post-harvest requirements for grapes used for drying. In the section entitled ‘Post-harvest technology for dried grapes’, a summary of the basic processing and product preservation is provided