We have a CSA membership to a local farm. That means during the growing season we get a basket of produce a week. Every week our basket is filled with whatever produce is ripe for the picking. Holli and Charly go and pick it up and even get a "U-Pick" bonus where they get to pick something extra. Charly loves to pick! I'm sure Holli will talk more about the farm in a later post, but that's not what this post is about.
 |
| Not my picture. Here's the source. This picture is from a cool blog about buying produce. Nice pictures too! |
The Farm has forced us to use produce we have never cooked with before, such as: garlic scape, okra, eggplant, and concord grapes. You may know concord grapes from such things as grape jelly and juice. They have a less than pleasant slimy texture, and they also have seeds. They are not the same that you buy in the store and eat right off the vine. They smell wonderful though. What do you do with concord grapes? I imagine a bunch of old Italians stepping in buckets to make wine. Since old Italians are in short supply here, I decided to make grape juice.
 |
| This is my picture...I know kind of boring. |
It was a fairly easy recipe, but it didn't make a lot. That small mason jar was all we got. The process went like this: de-stem, smash (I used my ricer, but a potato masher would have worked better), boil, smash, and drain in a bowl over night. By the way, if you are going to make this I would invest in some gloves! This stuff made my hands itch like crazy all night! Who knew?
There were no preservatives and no added sugar. The straight juice was awesome! Since I wanted all of us to try it I diluted it with a little water. It still tasted really good! This was Charly's first taste of juice. She went crazy for it! There wasn't a lot so she drank hers really quick and then started begging for more. Good thing we got more grapes this week! I think I'll make some more tonight. If you run in to some concord grapes
here is the recipe for the juice!
 |
| She loved her juice! |
 |
| This is her "Give me more juice!" face |
