Tell me more ×
The Great Outdoors Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people who love outdoor activities, excursions, and outdoorsmanship. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite

In spring, the grape vines are so full of watery sap that a cut from my pocket knife causes it to trickle out fairly fast, and it can be collected in a container. Someone told me that it is a good substitute for water on a trip, because it is purified by the plant. Is this true?

share|improve this question
The best case I've found for this is someone drinking some scienceforums.net/topic/37107-i-drank-some-grape-sap and surviving... not definitive admittedly, but it's all I can see at the moment. Might be a good one for Sceptics perhaps? – berry120 Apr 17 '12 at 13:17
2  
I think the question could stand a bit of clarification. "Instead of water" implies that you do, in fact, have water, and in this case, I'd submit that drinking the grape sap, even it it's ok for you, is pretty detrimental to the grape vine. If, on the other hand, you're looking at this as a survival technique, then I believe the grape sap is immeasurably better than no water at all, and very possibly better than unfiltered, unpurified water. – D. Lambert Apr 19 '12 at 15:31
I already drank grapevine sap when I accidentally pruned the vines a bit too late...it must be full of benificial properties! Curiously enough, my grape vines produced more that year... – Esperanca Melo Mar 24 at 17:21

1 Answer

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I'll give this a stab, but there aren't any authoritative sources that I've managed to find on the subject!

The most I could really find are examples such as this one where people have drank it and felt no ill effects, and I haven't found a documented case of anyone drinking it and it being harmful to them. From a biological point of view the vine will at least partly purify the ground water, though if it's a known heavily contaminated area I wouldn't take it as a substitute for a proper water filter.

In terms of the effect on the grape vine, most sources I've found seem to show that while it seems alarming it's actually not that bad for the vine, though obviously if you make cuts everywhere and drain all the sap there will come a point where it won't be able to sensibly recover.

In short, if you're really desperate for water and it's the only source available in a survival situation, I'd see no great reason for not giving it a try. It isn't however a direct substitute for a good, purified water source.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.