🥃 Grape juice

Grape juice is the juice of ripe grapes that has not fermented. It contains no alcohol and a lot of sugar, so it is sweet. It is drunk like any fruit juice, including by children.

To get the juice, grapes are pressed and the liquid is separated from skins and seeds. The juice is then filtered and usually pasteurised, meaning heated so that it does not ferment in the bottle. Without this, the yeast on the berries would turn the sugar into alcohol.

It differs from grape must by purpose. Must is juice for wine, and is allowed to ferment. Juice for drinking is prepared so that fermentation is stopped. Grape juice belongs to the grape products, like verjuice, the sour juice of unripe berries.

Grape juice is rich in sugars (glucose and fructose), so it is high in calories. In a diet it should be counted like other sweet drinks. It is also used to make soft drinks, jellies and syrups.