Fuzzy?

It seems to me that, if you have a huge quantity, the best thing to do would be to bow to natural processes and press them right off. 12 lbs of grapes will give you a (British) gallon of juice. Now that you could freeze ... or allow to ferment, which it will do quite happily if put into a gallon jar with an airlock and left in a warm place!

My husband and I bought a juicer. So, now I can make them into juice before they go bad.

I once visited a science lab here in Cambridge where they had a tank of liquid nitrogen. As a demonstration (of how cold it was) the scientist took a bunch of grapes, dipped it for just a moment into the misty depths and brought it out smoking and apparently unchanged. Then he laid it on the bench and hit it with a hammer. The grapes shattered as if made of glass. I am not sure what the experiment was designed to prove (except that liquid nitrogen is colder than it currently is in some of the central States). I later learned, though, that many soft fruits go mushy when frozen and this is because the ice crystals break the cell walls if frozen slowly (as in a freezer). Some fruits, such as strawberries, are therefore frozen with liquid nitrogen before packing. I never tried freezing grapes in the freezer. I imagine that if you let them thaw, they go rather flabby and mushy.

I have never tried soaking them in water. Thank you. I finally finished off the last batch and bought some more, so I will be able to give that a go immediately. Thanks for the response. Happy myLotting!