Grape leaves...is it too late?

[velochic]

So, my neighbor has been cultivating a grape arbor and this year will probably have a nice one that I could potentially get grape leaves off of. She calls them "pie grapes" and they are probably concord or some such sweet varietal for snacking and making pies and jams. Would those leaves work?

Can I just blanch them and freeze them? I'm not sure how to process them. We usually buy them in jars and canning them would be my first choice, but freezing would be fine, too.

 

[CWS4322]

I typically blanch mine and then freeze them.

Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe, Greek Dolmades Recipe, How To Stuff Grape Leaves, How To Make Greek Dolmades, Dolmades Recipes

How To Prepare Grape Leaves For Dolmades (Ampelofylla Yia Ntolmades) - Greek Recipes

The tenderest leaves are at the end of the vine, not the base or in the middle. I'd forgotten that. I didn't harvest them yesterday--I needed to clean the kitchen before I made the rice pudding.

 

[Andy M.]

Well, he was just saying the words are the same in Turkish and Armenian and wasn't sure if your family was from within Turkey or not. His family was driven out during the genocide, too, and settled in Istanbul.

I found his mother's recipe for stuffed grape leaves. There are a couple of terms I'm not sure about, but will post the recipe when he can translate it for me. I wish I could get fresh grape leaves for him to make this dish. He so loves it.

Does it require a certain variety of grape for making this? We just buy them in the jar from the ME grocery.

I could never tell the difference between 'fresh' grape leaves and the jarred ones. I buy the jars now to make yelanji.

As I mentioned earlier, dad used to stop at the side of the road when he saw a grape vine. I don't think mom cared what kind of grapes they were. But I was a kid and probably too stupid to notice.

 

[vitauta]

the only grape leaves i've come across were stuffed with a rice filling and packed in an aromatic oil - a salad bar offering. delicious.

 

[CWS4322]

Well--I have about 100 ground beef-pork-brown rice grape leaves steaming away. The wild grape leaves smell like wild grapes (funny that). My DH may not like the flavor. If he doesn't like them, I'll have lots for the freezer. I'm finishing them with a lemon sauce and plan on eating them warm. I won't put the lemon sauce on the ones going in the freezer. I miscalculated the number of leaves needed for the amount of filling--almost made the last bunch of filling into Greek meatballs, but instead I stepped out the front door and went over to the fence and gathered more leaves.

 

[Andy M.]

Well--I have about 100 ground beef-pork-brown rice grape leaves steaming away. The wild grape leaves smell like wild grapes (funny that). My DH may not like the flavor. If he doesn't like them, I'll have lots for the freezer. I'm finishing them with a lemon sauce and plan on eating them warm. I won't put the lemon sauce on the ones going in the freezer. I miscalculated the number of leaves needed for the amount of filling--almost made the last bunch of filling into Greek meatballs, but instead I stepped out the front door and went over to the fence and gathered more leaves.

Try some with just a little plain yogurt for a sauce.

 

[CWS4322]

The dolmas turned out quite nice. The leaves did not have the bitter flavor I was expecting from the smell of them when I blanched them and started steaming them. The DH liked them and took some back home to the city. I made a lemon sauce for them, but plain yogurt sounds good too. I have enough left to play with different sauces <g>. Easy to make, time consuming to roll. Be something fun to do with another person. I couldn't decide if I wanted to fold the sides in first or roll up one rotation from the bottom and then fold in. It didn't seem to matter. They all stayed rolled and I didn't roll too tightly because none of them burst. Next time, I will pre-cook the brown rice a little longer (I pre-cooked it for about 10 minutes, next time, I'll precook it for about 20 since brown rice takes longer to cook since white rice). Now I know that if I use four pounds of meat and 2 cups of rice (uncooked measure), I need about 100 leaves. I am going to make some rice filled ones later this week while the leaves are still tender. I am missing some of the ingredients...

 

[Andy M.]

My mouth is watering! I'll have to call my sister and get her to make some.

 

[CWS4322]

Here are a couple of pics I took--the first is of the stack of fresh wild grape leaves...the 2nd is of the pot ready for steaming.

 

[vitauta]

the large, vivid colored grape leaves and nicely turned dolmas, belong in the pages of an artistic food magazine. these pictures are nothing short of stunning!

 

[CWS4322]

Thanks--I'm not a great photograher--I don't really know all the ways to use my digital camera. They were fun to make (perhaps moreso because the vines are all over the farm and it was easy to go out and cut the leaves--I cut them without the stems so I didn't have to remove stems in the house--and I know there are no pesticides on them or residue from exhaust fumes). If I'm not too busy in September and the birds don't eat all the grapes, I'll have to make some wild grape jelly.

And, rather than freezing the leaves (freezer space will be at a premium soon), I figured I might as well make the dolmas. I have to make some rice ones before the leaves get much bigger--the veins in the larger leaves were a bit stringy, but I didn't use very many leaves that were bigger than my hand (I wear a size 7-8 glove).

It is hot and humid here now--but hopefully it will cool off a bit this week--or at least at night--so I can make some more one evening this week if I can meet my deadlines and not have to work much past noon each day.

My mom used to make them using jarred leaves. The only difference I noticed is that the ones I blanched weren't as fragile when rolling--as I remember the jarred ones, they would tear sometimes when you rolled them. (My mother who hates to cook would make rice-filled dolmas and keep them in a jar filled with olive oil--go figure). I didn't have any of the leaves tear. And, I didn't have any "bad" leaves that I couldn't use.

While I was out cutting the leaves, I started a big pot of water to boil. When I came in, I washed the leaves and turned off the water. I let them sit in the water for 3 minutes, and then I drained them and then I put them in ice water for about 5-7 minutes to chill. Drained them and then I used a tea towel. I laid out 3 leaves, blotted them, put the filling on each leaf, and then rolled the three. Repeated 33-34 times <g>.