Love tart or sour flavors in your dishes? If yes, verjuice, also known as verjus, is something you should know about. This sour grape juice gives a wonderful richness to salads and many other dishes. Let's learn what exactly verjus is, how to make it at home, where to use it and much more.
Verjuice is a traditional condiment in European and Middle Eastern cuisines including Turkish cuisine. It is often used as a substitute for lemon in salads like shepherd salad and in dishes like bamia stew and stuffed grape leaves.
If you like sour condiments like this, you might want to check out our pomegranate molasses recipe too.
What is Verjuice?
Verjuice, also known as verjus or vert jus, is pronounced vehr-ZHOO . It is basically the juice of sour unripe grapes. You can use any type of grape that hasn't ripen yet but traditionally, it is made from the crops that are picked for thinning of vineyards, which is often made to improve the quality of grapes.
It is often made from green grapes, but you can use red grapes too. Although it is not very common, verjuice can also be made from sour fruit like crab apples or plums.
This sour and acidic juice is used as a substitute for lemon juice or vinegar but has a milder taste. It is not fermented or doesn't contain any alcohol. It has the tang of citrus fruit, so you can use it in any recipe that calls for citruses.
How To Make It
So how do you make verjuice at home? You need only unripe grapes and a little time. It doesn't require any fermentation process. There are 2 methods to make it:
First method is an old, traditional one:
- Rinse the unripe grapes very well.
- Put them in a large bowl and mash them with the bottom of a jar. You don't need to remove them from the stems.
- Transfer the resulting juice into a fine mesh sieve and squeeze in your hands. Make sure to use gloves when doing this. Alternatively, you can strain it with a coffee filter or cheesecloth.
- Pour the juice into a mason jar and keep it in the fridge.
Second method is the modern way:
- After rinsing the green unripe grapes, remove the stems.
- Put the grapes in a juicer and make juice out of them in batches.
- Pour it into a fine mesh sieve or in a cheese cloth and strain to remove the pulp. Keep in mason jars.
The downside of this second method is that the verjuice might taste bitter as the seeds are also mashed in the juicer. So we recommend the first old method. It might sound messy and tedious, but it is worth it.
Expert Tips
- If you have a food mill, you can use it to crash the grapes. Remove the stems and put the grapes in your food mill fitted with a coarse plate. You still need to strain the juice using a fine mesh sieve.
- Put on gloves when squeezing the unripe grapes as the acid in them might hurt your skin.
- Try to be as quick as possible when juicing the unripe grapes. As you work, there will be oxidation and the juice will lose the green color. So work fast.
- The color of the homemade verjuice might change from green or yellow to brownish. It is okay, the taste will still be good.
- The verjuice will separate and you will see a thin layer of sediment at the bottom of the jar as it sits in the fridge. It is fine, just give it a shake and then use it.
- You can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 months. If you want to keep it longer, add in a teaspoon of citric acid and sea salt after pouring it into a mason jar and shake well.
How To Use It
You can use it in any dish that is calling for lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar. We often use it as a dressing in our favorite Turkish salad. You can use it in marinades and cooking too. We like adding a splash of verjus over Turkish stuffed green peppers or adding some in soups. It has the same effect as a splash of lemon juice.
You can make verjus sauce for fresh oysters or prepare a classic beurre blanc sauce to serve with any seafood including baked seabass.
It is great in meat dishes too. You can try famous Australian chef Maggie Beer's braised beef cheeks in verjuice.
Verjus is also an amazing ingredient to make alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktails. You can create your own cocktail by mixing it with soda water, vodka or gin.
Storing
You can keep verjuice in bottles in the fridge for 2-3 months. If you buy it from the store, you can keep it re-corked after opening. Also, you can freeze it in ice cube trays for about 6 months.
Where To Buy It
If you don't have a chance to make verjus at home, you can buy it from gourmet grocery stores or online shops. Search it on Google in your area, you might even find a local producer.
Substitute
White wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice is a great verjuice substitute.
Verjus vs Vinegar
Unlike vinegar, verjuice has a sweet-tart taste and it is not too acidic. But it makes a great substitute for white wine vinegar. So if you are not a fan of the strong flavor of vinegar, you can use verjus.
Verjus vs Grape Juice
Verjus is not just normal grape juice that you can buy from the fruit juice section at the markets. It is not as sweet and you don't want to drink it on its own. Because it is unripe grape juice, it has a sour and sweet taste that is close to citrus fruit. So verjuice is used to flavor dishes.
FAQs
No it doesn't. It is pure grape juice, but from unripe grapes.
Yes, you can. But you might not like its tangy taste on its own. It would be just like drinking lemon juice. It is rather a flavoring ingredient.
It keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 months. The sediment at the bottom doesn't show that it has gone off, it is normal. Just shake it before using. It might lose its taste if kept longer than this.
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📖 Recipe
How To Make Verjus (Verjuice)
A great substitute for lemon or lime that is made from unripe grapes.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 quart (1 liter) 1x
- Category: Dressing
- Method: Squeezing
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
- 6 pounds (2.72kg) unripe grapes
Instructions
- Rinse the unripe grapes very well.
-
Put them in a large bowl and mash them with the bottom of a jar. You don't need to remove them from the stems.
-
Transfer the resulting juice into a fine mesh sieve and squeeze in your hands. Make sure to use gloves when doing this. Alternatively, you can strain it with a coffee filter or cheesecloth.
-
Pour the juice into a mason jar and keep it in the fridge.
Notes
- If you have a food mill, you can use it to crash the grapes. Remove the stems and put the grapes in your food mill fitted with a coarse plate. You still need to strain the juice using a fine mesh sieve.
- Put on gloves when squeezing the unripe grapes as the acid in them might hurt your skin.
- Try to be as quick as possible when juicing the unripe grapes. As you work, there will be oxidation and the juice will lose the green color. So work fast.
- The color of the homemade verjuice might change from green or yellow to brownish. It is okay, the taste will still be good.
- The verjuice will separate and you will see a thin layer of sediment at the bottom of the jar as it sits in the fridge. It is fine, just give it a shake and then use it.
- You can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 months. If you want to keep it longer, add in a teaspoon of citric acid and sea salt after pouring it into a mason jar and shake well.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 lt jar
- Calories: 1878
- Sugar: 421.3 g
- Sodium: 54.4 mg
- Fat: 4.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 492.6 g
- Protein: 19.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Trish says
Thanks for this concise story and preparation i fo! I am about to attempt it for the second time, just cut back the green grapes a little. I read that you can use any green unripe fruit or vegetables for this, also, has anyone tried that? Love to all you fellow food adventurers. Trish.
Josie wells says
Zerrin.. Thankyou!
My daughter has an intolerance to lemons/limes/mangos and I've been looking for an alternative for a while now... Perfect.
Zerrin says
Hi Josie, this is a great alternative to lemon or lime juice, yet you may not find unripe grapes every time. I'm not sure how long you can keep it but you can freeze it in ice molds and then use. Also, I'd recommend homemade pomegranate molasses, which you can store up to a year. If you can find sour pomegranates in your area, this would be even a better alternative.
Thofr says
This is the first recipe of verjus (French) or verjuice I found. Glad I did, because verjuice cannot be bought over here and I have a lot of vines in my garden:)
How long can I keep the verjuice and is it possible to freeze it?
Thanks for all your great recipes!
pixen says
I was searching for information about Verjuice which was used in a cooking show from Australia. They use a lot of this Verjuice over there but to outsiders like me, it's difficult to find any in major shops or supermarkets locally.
Thanks for sharing the recipe...and now I need to find unripe grapes 😀 I planted 2 grape trees in my large pots but it's only for their leaves to make dolmades 😀 I still didn't find any grapes grown... not even tiny bunches 🙁
Do you think any sour grapes can be use instead?
erkin says
Zerrin, this is a perfect recipe especially for hot summer days and nights. We have to put the water and salt we lose back in our bodies.
There's one more thing with it: if you are a bit intoxicated, it helps you feel better and overcome the headache alcohol triggers as a result of dehydration.
The formula is : drink one glass of verjuice for every two glasses of alcohol you consume. You'll feel the difference.
Spice Sherpa says
Learn something new all the time! Never heard of verjuice and never thought of unripe grapes as a source of sour...but of course! It makes sense.
Very creative, functional, resourceful.
Like it!!
Kate@Diethood says
Sounds so good and refreshing!
joe says
verjuice is used in french cooking too.
Nikki @ The Tolerant Vegan says
How fantastic! I've never heard of Verjuice but I'm so excited about it. I'm always squeezing limes and lemons onto everything, so this will be a great alternative. Now I just have to find some unripe grapes...
Parsley Sage says
Awesome recipe, never heard of verjuice before. Sounds delicious 🙂 Buzzed