A few years ago most of the Muscadine grapes grown in the South were used for wine-making. From these grapes wine has been made since colonial times, and for a century there have been some large vineyards of Muscadine grapes in the South from which wine was made in a commercial way. Since Muscadine grapes do not sell well in the markets in competition with the grapes of the North or the Pacific slope, the Muscadine grape industry has been dependent on the wine industry of the section in which the fruit is produced. The growth of prohibition in the South, however, has driven the wine industry to the North and West and there is now little wine manufactured from Muscadine grapes in the South, although some grapes are shipped North for wine-making. The wine made from these grapes is very distinct in flavor and on that account a special trade has been developed for it. It is possible that this special trade will keep up the demand for Muscadine wine so that some part of the crop may be shipped to wine-making states to supply this demand.
When properly made, grape-juice is the undiluted, unsweetened, unfermented juice of the grape and contains no preservatives, fermentation being prevented by sterilization with heat. The product is as ancient as wine, and, therefore, as the cultivation of the vine, for all wine-making peoples have used new wine or grape-juice as a beverage. For centuries physicians in wine-making countries have prescribed grape-juice as it comes from the wine-press for certain maladies, the treatment constituting an essential part of the grape-cures of European countries. The process of making an unfermented grape-juice that will keep from season to season as an article of commerce is, however, a modern invention, and is the outcome of the discoveries of the last half century regarding the control of the agents of fermentation.
The manufacture of commercial grape-juice in America, to which country the industry is confined, began as a home practice following the fundamental processes of canning fruit. Toward the close of the last century, several inventive minds discovered methods of making a commercial product and began developing markets for their wares. The beginning of the present century found the new industry in full swing, since which time its growth has been truly marvelous. In 1900 the amount of grape-juice made in the United States was so small as to be negligible in the census report of that year. By 1910, the annual output had reached for the whole country over 1,500,000 gallons and at present writing, 1918, it is well above 3,500,000 gallons per annum. The manufacture of grape-juice is no longer a home industry but a great commercial enterprise. It is an industry closely associated with grape-growing, however, and as such needs further consideration here.