Viking Vinland???

Used some time on Skandinavian Archeology Forum where Vinland is much debated as it is almost everywhere else; mostly so is if they found Grapes in Vinland or something that may look like grapes or something else called grapes in Europe at the time or its all a misunderstanding of scribes..

Well today one of my colleagues brought Ribes Uva-Crispa known to Danes as Stikkelsbær which is usually eaten cooked and sweetened as a summer dessert. Though the fresh one I tried for the first time today didn't need sweetening but was delicious. Of course today its a very cultured berry much larger than in the wild.

Ribes Uva-Crispa of course have a North American cousin Ribes Hirtellum which can be found in southern Canada and northern part of the lower 48. Just the east coast of which the Vikings/Norse visited.

Its not just the berry which comes in white/yellow/green and red - like grapes but also the leaves which isn't all unlike wine's.

So did Turk the slave find something that resembled grapes but was too agitated to explain exactly what it was or did his masters who may never have seen the real thing just get elated? Ribes Uva-Crispa only made it north of France past 900 so possibly they didn't or had only heard of grapes. And then grapes for making wine is smaller then those for eating so confusion of sorts is really possible.

Well it was just me getting my Heureka moment - now go on spoil it!