Canning grape leaves?!
Canning grape leaves?
Does anyone know how to can grape leaves? I have grapes and want to can the leaves to use in recipes later on. Does anyone have a good brining recipe they can share, especially anything greek in origin? thanks
Answers:
This is a multi-step process: making bundles of leaves, blanching, covering bundles with brine, and processing the jars.
Prepare bundles: stack 6 to 20 blanched leaves of the same size. Put the shiny side UP. Line up the stem ends. Roll from the side. Tie bundles with real cotton string, not poly or synthetic.
You can blanch loose and then roll [see the frozen leaves blanching direction above], but if you are going to preserve them, I think it is easier to make smallish bundles and then blanch the bundles, no more than 4 at a time, for up to 3 minutes. Turn occasionally while boiling to blanch evenly.
Pack rolls tightly in sterilized canning jars, jars all the same size, gently bending rolls if necessary to get the ends below the shoulder of the jar.
Make brine: 1/4 cup kosher salt or pickling salt per quart of water, boil at least five minutes, and keep it hot. Fill the jars to cover all bundles with at least 1/2 inch of brine above the bundles. You need a little more than 1 cup brine per jar.
Pour hot brine to fill the jars. Run a stainless steel table knife or spoon (not iron or steel) around the edge of each jar to get out air bubbles.
Final processing: Review canning process in any standard recipe book- you need jars, giant pot, etc. You have the sterilized jars filled with rolled leaves covered with brine. Put on the sterilized two piece lids, kep your fingers off the rim and inside of the jar and the lid. Place on a rack in a pot containing boiling water to cover to 1/2 the depth of the jars. Fill with boiling water to 2" above the jars, cover the pot, bring to a boil and boil hard 15 minutes for quarts, 10 minutes for pints. Cool the jars and store in a cool dark place.
In the olden days, they didn't do the final processing for any kind of brine pickles. Much quicker, but you'd lose some jars to molds...