Whoa, looks like my green table grapes (of indeterminate variety) really liked having more airflow and a less severe prune! For a change, my laziness resulted in happy times: a bumper crop of the little, seedless, acidic things. So. Many. Grapes. Expecting yours did as well as mine, I won’t try to pawn mine off on you as a hopeful gentleman did the zucchini bat below:
Thus, I present to you the recipes I’m experimenting with this year. I’m afraid my grapes are less juicy and more tart than the average grape, so I’ll probably have to adjust the recipes.
I’m looking forward to:
- home-dried grapes, aka raisins (also see comments for another technique!);
- my favorite roasted chicken-grape-almond Waldorf salad (no recipes because it’s just that with a lemony mayonnaise binder);
- a grape-cucumber Collins;
- sweet and spicy Bengali grape chutney;
- and the white gazpacho with grapes, cucumbers, and almonds that’s chilling in the fridge. (Reduce salt to 1 tsp. and olive oil and water to 1/2 cup each, vinegar to 2 tsp., the food mill the heck out of it, because the skins and almonds give an unpleasant texture, as in the picture).
You might be tempted to try some of these 51 grape recipes. I dunno. Some of them look awful. And that goes for most grape recipes on the internet. Anything remotely indicating a grape pie, for example — a weepy, mushy grape pie with some offensive topping where the recipe writer warns the reader ahead of time — is not going to be something I sample. If you do, and you like it, let me know!
One recipe link that’s broken is an interesting one for “burnt grapes,” which seems to be just a raspberries Romanoff adaption, in which one tops the fruit with sour cream then brûlées it. Eh. Not my fave, and grapes would be slipperier. But here’s another link for that.
Pickled grapes? Hmmm, maybe. You tell me.
Or this grape almond olive oil cake that won the contest that produced the Collins and chutney recipes? Sure thing.
You could also try fresh grape juice, which is made by processing a ton of grapes in a blender, then straining. Or grape juice for canning, recipe here. I had some wonderful grape juice this winter sold at the Cottage Grove farmstand made of blends of table and wine grapes, both red and white, so I know it can be good, and not a trip down Welch’s memory lane.
Aaaand upon seeing the price of table grapes at the market…anyone want to buy about 50 lbs. of grapes? I’m trying to fund a freelancing career, here. ;)
Culinaria Eugenius 