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I’m grateful for many things. My husband and children, first and foremost. My family, friends, neighbors and community – both literal and virtual. My home, the material possessions that make my life comfortable, my country and the natural beauty that surrounds me.
I’m grateful for all of it…every bit, every day, in every way.
And the food; always the food. As we come up upon the most food-centric day of the year, I am mindful that my gratitude also extends to the farmers who grow it, the field hands who pick and pack, the distributors, the truckers, the companies who sell and market to us so we know what is available.
I am grateful for the entire food chain, including the talented cooks and cookbook authors who create new recipes to entice us, who teach us new tricks with old ingredients, and who bring joy to the end game in our kitchens.
My latest discovery is a wonderful book, “Saving the Season: A Cook’s Guide to Home Canning, Pickling and Preserving,” by Kevin West (2013; Alfred A. Knopf; $35). Each page is a revelation, a story about an old-timer who knows his or her stuff, inventive heritage recipes for using up the bounty, gorgeous real world photos, poems as needed for grace, and a quiet authority about the art and science of putting things up.
You could spend a month poring over this worthy book. I intend to.
But before I disappear into these pages and don’t reappear until the new year, I made a recipe that jumped off the page at me and whispered in my ear. I am grateful I succumbed to its charms, because Mrs. Plagemann’s Savory Pickled Grapes is a recipe I’ll make each year in late fall when the California grapes are at their peak.
Catherine Plagemann wrote a 1967 cookbook, “Fine Preserving,” that was considered an obscure masterpiece. The preeminent food writer M.F.K. Fisher discovered it and listed the pickled grapes as one of her favorite recipes, which caused the book to be reprinted in 1986, and thus saved for a new generation. And now Kevin West has thankfully resurrected the recipe again, adapting it in his new book.
Thank you Mrs. Plagemann, M.F.K. Fisher, and Kevin West, for this gift, perfect for the Thanksgiving table.
Make them today and eat the first of them, in gratitude, at your Thanksgiving table. If there are any left, they will keep well for weeks (months, really!) in the refrigerator. I might have enough for Christmas, too!
Recipe: Mrs. Plagemann’s Savory Pickled Grapes
Summary: Sweet and sour pickled grapes are wonderful with sandwiches, cold meats, roasted chicken or turkey, lamb, sausages…anything!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds seedless red Flame grapes (I used green, red and black Muscato Grapes)
- 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half (I used a 3-inch cinnamon stick in each jar)
- 4 small sprigs fresh or dried thyme (I used a fresh thyme sprig in each jar)
- 2 cups white wine vinegar
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons finely minced shallots
Instructions
- Prepare your jars by immersing them and the lids in boiling water for a couple of minutes. This will make them squeaky clean. Remove from water and allow to dry.
- Choose grapes that are freshly picked, firm and crisp. Remove them from the stem and wash well. Pack them snugly into four prepared pint jars. It’s fine to compress the grapes to squeeze in a few more, but don’t crush them. Tuck half a cinnamon stick and a small sprig of thyme into each jar.
- Combine the vinegar, sugar and shallots in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Ladle the boiling syrup over the grapes to cover, seal the jars and store in the refrigerator. This will give you the best texture.
- Serve cold, drained of the syrup.
- For long-term shelf storage, leave a generous ½ inch headspace when you ladle the boiling syrup over the grapes. Seal and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes (usual canning procedure).
- Makes 4 pint jars.
Sizing
I made 8 jars. Each of my jars held 27-30 grapes, and I made 1.5 times the recipe to create enough syrup for my 8 jars.
Source
“Saving the Season: A Cook’s Guide to Home Canning, Pickling and Preserving,” by Kevin West (2013; Alfred A. Knopf; $35). Recipe reprinted with permission.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Diet type: Vegan
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)
My rating
Disclosure: The publisher sent a copy of the book for review. Melissa’s Produce sent the grapes for recipe testing. The surfboard bamboo serving board is by Totally Bamboo.
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Oh, wow! I have never heard of pickled grapes before but now I want to try them! Love the combo of cinnamon and thyme!
I have never had pickled grapes. Yes, this would be wonderful for Thanksgiving and I can give my guests a jar to take home!
Tiffany,
I love that idea!
What a fun idea…this pickling fruit is new to me.
Sandi,
You need to try it! It’s a whole sweet-sour thing, like bread-and-butter pickles.
This I am going to have to try!
I love this! Preserving is a thing for me, but I never thought of pickling grapes, even though I grow them. Thanks for the inspiration.
Colleen,
Wow, you GROW grapes? Then this recipe is right up your alley!
Wow! These look amazing! I am going definitely going to try them!
I would have never thought to pickle grapes! Very interesting idea.
I’ve never had grapes like this before! I can’t wait to try this out on Thanksgiving!
What a great idea!! Thank you for sharing! Sounds delicious!
VERY important we honor the food we eat and the One who created it and created ALL things! 🙂
This sounds fantastic. And what would happen if I cut the grapes in half?
Wendy,
These pickled grapes are SOOOOO good! I think they would really shrivel if you cut them in half, and would leak their juice. Why don’t you try one small jar of cut grapes, and the rest whole, and after a few days, see which you prefer!
Sounds wonderful! How long do they need to marinate before you can eat them?
Lindsay,
I ate some in a couple of hours, but they are best the next day, and 3 days later, and a week later.
Amazing recipe! And believe it or not, I once cooked for M.F.K. Fisher in my late 20’s. She was a friend of my Aunt who was an artist in San Francisco and she came over to dinner. I don’t remember what I made but if I had known who she was I would have been too afraid to cook ANYTHING! I love her writing about food. Nice memory
Connie,
Love it when a recipe sparks an ancient memory. The best kind!
Putting this on my weekend to-do list.
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