09 Incredible Edible Idaho Grapes!

studio, oil, 6" x 6", 'Great Grapes'

IDAHO GRAPE FACTS:

• Idaho's warm days and cool nights produce a sweet, crisp grape.
• It takes a vine 3 years to mature before it produces grape clusters
• A mature vine can produce over 60 pounds of grapes.
• Idaho grows mainly seedless grape varieties, including Alborz (red), Emerald (green) and Jupiter (black).
• The average grape vineyard in Idaho is 5 acres, about the size of 5 football fields.

Idaho Counties where table grapes are grown: Ada, Payette, Gem, Canyon and Elmore

The grapes for my painting are from a backyard garden in Boise (Ada County), Idaho. Each year around mid to late October, the ripened grapes are picked carefully from the vine, washed thoroughly, steamed and bottled for juice. Kind of like Welch's grape juice, but better!!!