Verjus - Making “lemonade” from “lemons”

You’ve almost surely had it many times, and just didn’t know it, and the “it” that I’m talking about is verjus (ver ZHOO). I’m sure that some of you have encountered bottles of this on the shelf of a gourmet shop somewhere in its unadulterated form, but for those of you who are unfamiliar with verjus as a stand-alone product, it is via Dijon mustard that you have almost surely tasted this pungent liquid.

Without any further beating around the bush vine, verjus is the juice derived from the pressing of unripened (usually white) grapes. In many vineyards worldwide, an operation called “green harvesting” is practiced early in the Summer. Green harvesting involves cutting off a certain percentage of yet unripened grape bunches from the vines. This practice is utilized to channel the full “force” of each vine into fewer bunches to bolster sugar concentration, and in the case of red grapes, color as well.

In some cases, growers simply let these unripened bunches fall to the ground where they eventually rot and where they become a de facto and convenient fertilizer for the vines. But in France, where green harvesting was first practiced, some clever and frugal farmer now lost in the mists of history nibbled a nub off a green bunch and likely winced at first from the sourness, but appreciated the unique flavor and saw an opportunity to make a few Francs from what had been deemed to have almost no economic value. Verjus can and is often made from bunches that remain unripened at harvest as well.

And though not all complicated, the production of verjus must be handled in such a way that the verjus remains verjus and does not combine with natural, airborne yeasts that will do the do, and turn this juice into vinegar. The most common way to retard acetification is the addition of salt to the sour juice in which the salt serves to kill off the yeasts that effect this change.

So you might now be asking “Why verjus and not vinegar”? Very good question. The first and perhaps somewhat obvious answer is taste. While verjus is probably about as sour as many vinegars, it does not TASTE like vinegar - since verjus has never been acted upon by yeasts even once (vinification) much less twice (acetication) it tastes like very sour JUICE, which is not surprising since that is precisely what it is. The second and perhaps more important reason to use verjus over vinegar or lemon juice is unlike these last two substances, VERJUS DOES NOT CLASH WITH WINE (HOORAY!), making it far more versatile than either vinegar or lemon juice.

You can’t (or shouldn’t) put verjus on your pancakes, or use it as a mouthwash or eye bath, so what DOES one do with it? Verjus should be used in the same way that one uses either vinegars or lemon juice: primarily to prepare dressings, sauces, or marinades when being able to match each and every dish with wine is of paramont importance. Verjus is not always easy to find, but it can often be found at large, fine gourmet food shops, and you should seek it out if just to make the comparasin with it andthe more common kitchen acids…If anyone gets a hold of a bottle, and takes it out for a drive along the highways and byways of a Sunday dinner, let us know what you think…

TOM CIOCCO