# Grape leaves...is it too late?



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

I usually process grape leaves the end of May-early June for dolmas. Life kinda got away from me--I noticed that there are grapes starting to form. Is it too late to collect the grape leaves to freeze them for dolmas?


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

Not at all.  You can pick them anytime.

When I was a child, the family would go for a Sunday ride.  Somewhere along the way, Dad would pull over to the side of the road where there were grapevines and Mom would make two paper grocery bags appear and hand them to my sister and me with instructions to, 'go pick grape leaves.  ...and don't pick the really big ones, they're tough.'


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

I know what I'm doing this afternoon <g>.


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> I know what I'm doing this afternoon <g>.




Now yo've got my mouth watering for some of Mom's cooking.  

Growing up in an Armenian-American home, we called them dolma when vegetables like peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, etc were hollowed out and filled.  When the filling was wrapped in cabbage or grape leaves, we called it sarma.  Mom would make a mixed potfull of both.  I believe the Greeks call them dolmates.


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Now yo've got my mouth watering for some of Mom's cooking.
> 
> Growing up in an Armenian-American home, we called them dolma when vegetables like peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, etc were hollowed out and filled. When the filling was wrapped in cabbage or grape leaves, we called it sarma. Mom would make a mixed potfull of both. I believe the Greeks call them dolmates.


 
My friend from Greece called them dolmas...maybe she mispelled the name when she translated the recipe for me.

Care to share your mom's recipes?


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

I don't have them.  Since Mom died, my sister has been in charge of making them.  I will ask her for the recipe but can't guarantee when she'll get to it.


----------



## Steve Kroll (Jun 28, 2011)

Grape leaves continue to form throughout the entire season (I have 30 vines) so you can pick them anytime. Just try to stick with younger leaves. You can easily identify these because they are more pliable and brighter in color.


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

The season's behind--so the leaves are still not "too big" and they are still the "lighter" green. These are wild grape leaves, not cultivated. I typically freeze them for when I'm ready to use them. My mother used to buy them in jars, but I prefer to preserve my own.


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> The season's behind--so the leaves are still not "too big" and they are still the "lighter" green. These are wild grape leaves, not cultivated. I typically freeze them for when I'm ready to use them. My mother used to buy them in jars, but I prefer to preserve my own.




My mom used to blanch them in salt water before bundling them and freezing them.


----------



## DaveSoMD (Jun 28, 2011)

Okay so we have 4 vines here... what can I do with the leaves???


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

Make stuffed grape leaves.


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> My mom used to blanch them in salt water before bundling them and freezing them.


 That's basically what I do. I separate them with waxed paper.


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> That's basically what I do. I separate them with waxed paper.



I believe my sister just stacks them and rolls them like a cigar then wraps and freezes.


----------



## Saphellae (Jun 28, 2011)

Dolmadakia - little cute stuffed leaves, in Greek
I love making these!  They are SOOOO good and you can change them up in so many ways!


----------



## Dawgluver (Jun 28, 2011)

Hmm. Got wild grapes all over here, will hafta get me some leaves!


----------



## velochic (Jun 28, 2011)

Interesting discussion.  I wanted to find out more.  It prompted me having a discussion with my Armenian hubby from Turkey about sarma and dolma.  I've never made the stuffed grape leaves at home, but have made stuffed zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, etc. which he calls dolmas.  I'm not fond of the bitterness of the grape leaves, so I neither make them nor eat them.

Andy - was your Armenian family displaced from Turkey before coming to the US?  Dh was saying that _sarma _is a Turkish term meaning "wrap" and _dolma_ means (in Turkish) something "stuffed" or "filled".

We have his mother's recipe for stuffed grape leaves.  It's in Turkish, and my Turkish is only O.K., so I'll have him give me a translation of it before I post it.


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 28, 2011)

Here are some links about preserving grape leaves:

Kalofagas - Greek Food & Beyond by Peter Minakis: Preserving Grape Vine Leaves

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

Preserving fresh grape leaves: a tasty endeavor, or "bad news bears"? - One Block Diet - Sunset.com


----------



## Andy M. (Jun 28, 2011)

velochic said:


> ...Andy - was your Armenian family displaced from Turkey before coming to the US?  Dh was saying that _sarma _is a Turkish term meaning "wrap" and _dolma_ means (in Turkish) something "stuffed" or "filled"...



No, they were driven out of Armenia and traveled around the region until they were able to manage coming over to America.  My Armenian is a little rusty so I'll take your DH's word for the translations.


----------



## velochic (Jun 29, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> No, they were driven out of Armenia and traveled around the region until they were able to manage coming over to America.  My Armenian is a little rusty so I'll take your DH's word for the translations.



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.


----------



## CWS4322 (Jun 29, 2011)

My grape vines are wild grapes. I don't think it matters, you just want them tender.


----------



## velochic (Jun 29, 2011)

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 (Jun 29, 2011)

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. (Jun 29, 2011)

velochic said:


> 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 (Jun 29, 2011)

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 (Jul 1, 2011)

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. (Jul 1, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> 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 (Jul 2, 2011)

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. (Jul 2, 2011)

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


----------



## CWS4322 (Jul 2, 2011)

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 (Jul 2, 2011)

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 (Jul 3, 2011)

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>.


----------

