Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The acidic juice of unripe grapes or other sour fruit, such as crabapples.
  • noun Sourness, as of disposition.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An acid liquor expressed from crab-apples, unripe grapes, etc., used for culinary and other purposes.
  • noun Sourness or acidity of temper, manner, or expression; tartness.
  • To make sour or acid.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The sour juice of crab apples, of green or unripe grapes, apples, etc.; also, an acid liquor made from such juice.
  • noun Tartness; sourness, as of disposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A very acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English verjus, from Old French vertjus : verd, unripe; see verdant + jus, juice; see juice.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French verjus, from Middle French vertjus ("green juice").

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Examples

  • But the Venetian recipe bestows real status on this humble ingredient by cooking it in almond milk, adding hot fat, then serving it with roast goose and a caramel-colored sauce made from the goose liver pounded with egg yolk, vinegar, and agresto—the sour grape condiment known as verjuice in English.

    Delizia! John Dickie 2008

  • Apple, armed with thorns, grows in our fields and hedgerows, furnishing verjuice, which is rich in tannin, and a most useful application for old sprains.

    Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie

  • Pour 200 ml verjuice available at specialty food markets and online; otherwise substitute very dry white wine and 300 ml water into a shallow pan and add 8 whole peppercorns, 4 thyme sprigs and 3 bay leaves.

    Great Ways to Veg Out Katherine Wheelock 2011

  • Prepare a cucumber salad with natural yoghurt and verjuice instead of vinegar.

    Cucumber soup: impossible food-wine pairing?!? | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009

  • But verjuice, the juice of unripe wine grapes, might be the acid, or citrus juice, lime or grapefruitand it would still fall under the rubric of a vinaigrette.

    Ratio Michael Ruhlman 2009

  • A piece of veal with a Napoleon of vegetables and a natural herb gel preceded an exemplary bass, served unadorned except for its crisp skin and a dark red pool of sauce derived from verjuice, the acidic liquid pressed from unripe grapes.

    Watching Robuchon Invent 2009

  • I also have two tiny tins for tiny cakes, a big bottle of verjuice, a smaller bottle of something I knew I needed for 17th century cooking but forgot the name of till I saw it and have lost the name again now and it's just as well it was on gift card, because it was extraordinarily expensive and then spent the sad remainder on chocolates.

    gillpolack: Cat found me a copy of the CT review. I gillpolack 2009

  • I also have two tiny tins for tiny cakes, a big bottle of verjuice, a smaller bottle of something I knew I needed for 17th century cooking but forgot the name of till I saw it and have lost the name again now and it's just as well it was on gift card, because it was extraordinarily expensive and then spent the sad remainder on chocolates.

    Even in a little thing gillpolack 2009

  • Perhaps you would like to use a white wine vinegar as the acidic/liquid component, or red wine vinegar or lime juice or Meyer lemon juice or verjuice.

    Ratio Michael Ruhlman 2009

  • Do you remember the verjuice I put into the comfits, when old

    The Abbot 2008

Comments

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  • 1. liquid from sour fruit - an acid liquid made from crab apples or other sour or unripe fruit.

    Use: formerly, in cooking or as a condiment instead.

    2. unpleasantness - sourness of temper, attitude, or expression.

    October 31, 2007

  • See puckery.

    December 14, 2007

  • French verjus. Also made from the juice of large unripened grapes.

    January 7, 2009

  • gureh

    June 11, 2010

  • Usage/historical note on poivre chaut.

    December 2, 2016

  • (noun) - (1) An acid liquor prepared from very sour grapes or crabapples. It is principally used in culinary preparations, although occasionally an ingredient in medicinal compounds. --Robley Dunglison's Dictionary of Medical Science, 1844 (2) From French verd, green, and jus, juice; used in sauces, ragouts, and the like. --T. Ellwood Zell's Popular Encyclopedia, 1871

    April 22, 2018