Home made raisins

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We have a large grape-vine growing over a pergola outside. I know if you are growing grapes specially for eating or wine-making you should keep the vine strictly pruned and only allow a few bunches of grapes per vine, and even thin out the individual grapes in each bunch as well as the number of bunches, to ensure you get plump grapes. But our vine doubles as a sun-shade so of course we allow it to cover the whole pergola (which is about 8 feet by 12, or thereabouts). And there are only so many hours in the day so I just don’t have time to be up a ladder thinning out individual grapes from each bunch. So we always end up with dozens of bunches of smallish grapes. And of course they ripen over a couple of weeks so there are far too many to eat at once. We no longer make wine, and we don’t have the facilities to bottle juice for keeping. And our freezer is full. So basically we eat grapes, we cook with grapes, we make jams and chutneys using grapes, we give away bunches to everyone who comes anywhere near, the blackbirds eat grapes, we feed the fallen ones to the chickens, and still there are some left. And British sunshine is not hot enough to dry any produce. So a few days ago I collected a big bowl full, washed them and picked them off the stalks, and then have been gently drying them in the oven over a few days. I don’t really want to use the oven just for this for 24 hours or so, so each time the oven is on for something else then I put the tray of grapes in afterwards when it’s already warm and leave it on at 70 degrees Celsius (about 160 Fahrenheit) for a couple of hours. At first not a lot seemed to happen but in the end I did get a tray of raisins! And it’s lucky I didn’t want them for anything in particular because the numbers do seem to be dwindling every time someone goes into the kitchen… All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2023.