Emma’s house has grape vines galore, so last week we set to work ridding the vines of their Concord grapes and then de-stemming each tiny grape. Grape picking and de-stemming is time consuming, I tell you. It should be noted that I wore a gingham-print apron. Because why not?
While de-stemming, Emma and I brainstormed all the different ways we could fold grapes into our diet. Fruit leather! Raisins-which-I-hate! Grape soda! Fruit snacks! Pie! Four or five hours after the first grape was picked off the vine, we finally dumped the last grape in the kiddy pool and filled it to the brim with water.
Want to know what’s really enjoyable? Washing a bajillion grapes in a kiddy swimming pool. The sound of a bajillion grapes rolling around is a very soothing one.
Hey little buddies!
Getting ready to de-stem some grapes!
By the time we finished, it was growing late, so we decided to juice and cook down the grapes the following day.
I rolled up to her house the next day, prepared to continue the Great Concord Grape Adventure of 2016. Emma has an industrial juicer that is utterly fantastic and also a bit of a beast. It juiced the grapes at record speed. The cook down process was a little less speedy.
Fruit leather seemed like the most delicious—and easiest—option, so that’s what we went for. It required a trip to the land of Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase a dehydrator and another four or five hours of waiting time, but it was 100% worth it. I plan to regularly mooch off Emma’s dehydrator.
Cooking grapes down into a thick puree!
My photos of the fruit leather weren’t too great, so I’ll pass on sharing them. Instead, here’s a photo of homemade fruit gummies that I made out of leftover grape juice. I also whipped up some strawberry-lemonade ones, but they were a bit bland. Sweeter juices seem to work better, but if you do opt for a strawberry route, I recommend adding a little more sugar. Recipe can be found here over at Fork and Beans.
Delicious grape fruit gummies!
So-so strawberry-lemonade fruit gummies! I think they’re worth another shot—just with more sweetener.
Thank you Micah for making me develop newly-found respect for Panic! At The Disco.
Through My Headphones
*Death of a Bachelor -Panic! At The Disco
*Intro -NF
My Other Backyard 