Concord Grape

The classic American grape behind grape jelly and juice, bred by Ephraim Wales Bull at his farm in Concord, Massachusetts. Bull began the deliberate breeding process in 1843, working from a wild native fox grape (Vitis labrusca) growing on his property, and planted roughly 22,000 seedlings over the following years searching for the right combination of hardiness, earliness, and flavor. He unveiled the results at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1853, naming it Concord after his adopted hometown. Real, well-documented irony: Bull sold vines for $5 apiece, but competing growers quickly began propagating and selling their own Concord vines, and he saw comparatively little financial reward from what became one of the most commercially important grapes in American history — still the standard cold-hardy grape for home gardens today.