VeianetMake Raisins for the family
November 17th 2010 19:15
Family Canteen:
Recipes
Category: My Garden and not
Thompson Seedless grapes - great for raisins
California grapes are great for raisins and wine. I enjoy eating the grapes fresh from the vine and whatever leftover grapes will be for raisins. The way to make Raisins is simple and effortless to dry for the family. The main ingredient is grapes, bunch of grapes, and plenty of grapes. Get ready to harvest more or less 4 pounds of fresh grapes to obtain 1 pound of raisins. To try your own raisins, you can either buy or grow some grapes if you have the space. Thou I would opt for the later since grapes are easy to grow.
The best grape variety for raisin is the Thompson seedless variety that has a thin light skin and seedless. This variety has an oval elongated berry that is rich in sugar content and because they are small, they are easy to dry during the summer when they are ripe.
Pick the grapes with a knife carefully to avoid breaking, leaking juice can be a magnet for insects and will cause molds which we don't want included in the raisins.
Drying process will take 2 to 4 weeks depending on how warm the weather is. Drying can be done by laying them on paper bag or paper tray just below the grape vine. The grapes can be dry in bunch or separated before placing them on the paper tray. The good thing of doing it yourself is knowing what is in the raisin, knowing it is fresher than the packaged ones sitting on the shelves in the store and knowing anybody can do it.
Comparison between drying in bunches or separated:
When drying in bunch, it is hard to separate them afterwards without a machine.
When drying separately, it can be messy with the juices attracting insects and also need more space to spread them out evenly.
Raisins will turn out dark purple and wrinkled as they dry from a 75% moist to 20% moist left in the grape. Make sure to shake them, separating the stem attached to the fruit to lessen the dust and other debris that has been accumulated during the drying process.
Wash the sun dried raisins, using a strainer, with a running water to make certain raisins are clean, carried away with the running water. While the raisins are enjoying the running water shower, keep the raisins moving around with one hand, making sure all of the raisins go through enough rinsing.
Turn on the oven to 275 degrees and place the rinsed raisins on cookie tray for about 10-20 minutes, enough to dry the extra water that is unnecessary for the raisins. I prefer to rinse the dried grapes before storing for a gentle rub down and any little fragments that are unnecessary will be wash away. The few minutes in the oven will keep the raisins nice and warm before storing in cupboards.
Store the raisins in a glass container (my preference) and it is ready for you to enjoy when the time comes.
Next Summer will be a perfect time to sun dry some grapes to make raisins for the family once again.
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