Wild Grapes

Barriehie

Barriehie

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So what I've been unknowingly calling kudzu is really wild Grapes! There's about 80' of this growing down an old fence line. Dolmades are in reach! I'll be needing to gather leaves and preserve in jars here pretty quick. This property never ceases to surprise.🙏

I found this link on preserving in brine. 👍
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Nope, but grapes grow all over the place here, so plenty of leaves. The grapes are rubbish (far too hot) but the leaves are great for dolmades.
Pick the biggest ones and blanch them for a few minutes. You can either use them straight away, or just pile them on top of each other, and freeze for future use.
I say "the biggest ones"because making dolmades, or similar Middle Eastern things is work intensive, and if you're stuck with small leaves, you'll be at it all day and night.
I buy my leaves from the local Syrian shop (which also supplies me with spices and olives). They grow them on their farm.
The Greeks (and possibly others) stuff them with rice and herbs. The Lebanese/Syrians use a fine, lightly spiced beef paste. Both delicious.
 
Barriehie said:
Anybody ever picked and preserved these???
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I have a couple of jars of them brined at the back of the fridge. They keep well as they're high in tannin.

Amazingly, or surprisingly, grapes grow really well around here. We have several varieties including what is probably is an old Spanish/Portuguese wine grape probably brought here with the Spanish in the 1500s. The one I use for leaves is probably the Interlaken variety and has large smooth leaves, good for dolmades and other cookingpurposes. Grape leaves also make a good layer for steaming.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I grew up eating them but never preserved them. I know people who make wine out of them (too sweet for my tastes). I'm rather surprised you thought they were kudzu. Weren't you from the south originally before you got a wild hair and moved on?
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The wine is only too sweet if the fermentation is stopped (too) early or if it is back sweetened....
The sugars in gape juice (fruit juice in general) is close to 100 % fermentable
 
badjak said:
The wine is only too sweet if the fermentation is stopped (too) early or if it is back sweetened....
The sugars in gape juice (fruit juice in general) is close to 100 % fermentable
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The grapes my husband and his cousins make wine out of come from California and the grapes themselves are not sweet. The wine they make are dry reds, quite delicious. We have wineries here that use local grapes and the wine is sweet because the grapes grown here are sweet. My husband and his cousins tried making wine a few times using grapes from colder climates with no success as the wine was sweeter than they like. It costs them a lot to buy grapes trucked in from across the country. They have the same issues at wineries in the Niagara Falls region of Canada, so they make a lot of ice wines there. I believe Germany does the same?

Typically across the south, the wild grapes grown are muscadine. Muscadine wine is typically a sweet wine and I don't care for it.
 
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JAS_OH1 said:
I grew up eating them but never preserved them. I know people who make wine out of them (too sweet for my tastes). I'm rather surprised you thought they were kudzu. Weren't you from the south originally before you got a wild hair and moved on?
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Just looking at them as a vine growing all over the place kudzu was the thought. You can eat kudzu and that's what brought about the inspection and saw it was grapes. And yes, born in NOLA and mostly grew up here in Georgia.
 
Morning Glory said:
Dolmades are a favourite food of mine. Long time since I had any. I can buy the leaves preserved in packets here. I must order some. Last time I made them was in 2017! :eek:

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I love them too! The last time I had some was was 2020 when the owner of my post box rental store made me some. She was from Ukraine and would make the best kibbeh too. I miss her cooking!
 
karadekoolaid said:
Nope, but grapes grow all over the place here, so plenty of leaves. The grapes are rubbish (far too hot) but the leaves are great for dolmades.
Pick the biggest ones and blanch them for a few minutes. You can either use them straight away, or just pile them on top of each other, and freeze for future use.
I say "the biggest ones"because making dolmades, or similar Middle Eastern things is work intensive, and if you're stuck with small leaves, you'll be at it all day and night.
I buy my leaves from the local Syrian shop (which also supplies me with spices and olives). They grow them on their farm.
The Greeks (and possibly others) stuff them with rice and herbs. The Lebanese/Syrians use a fine, lightly spiced beef paste. Both delicious.
Click to expand...
I could get them in 'Vegas but not so here in Hooterville so I'm excited to have a bunch just growing in the yard! I've had them both ways, with the rice and with the beef.
 
Barriehie said:
Just looking at them as a vine growing all over the place kudzu was the thought. You can eat kudzu and that's what brought about the inspection and saw it was grapes. And yes, born in NOLA and mostly grew up here in Georgia.
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We bought goats to help control the kudzu invasion problem. I knew that humans ate the roots, just read that the entire plant is edible, but I never ate any of it. Have you tried it?
 
JAS_OH1 said:
We bought goats to help control the kudzu invasion problem. I knew that humans ate the roots, just read that the entire plant is edible, but I never ate any of it. Have you tried it?
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I was going to yesterday! 🤠 I've read the roots are starchy and you can use a lot like potatoes. I'll find some in a right of way and go from there. It's said that the leaves taste like spinach.
 
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