Pickled Grapes

Pickled Grapes and Pears

I have been a pickling fiend lately.  I have made many lacto-fermented pickled goods including garlic dill pickles, garlic dill squash, and kim chi.  Now, I learned a new pickle, fresh fruit pickles!  I have been experimenting, and I made grape halves, pear, and whole grapes.  I like the whole grapes best, and then the 1/2 grapes.  The pears were too ripe, and got a little mushy, but they tasted good.   I love the spicy grapes, they taste like chutney!  Here is how I made them.

Ingredients
3 clean glass pint jars
3 pints of grapes
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar or maple syrup
1 tbs pepper corns
1/2 tbs mustard seed
1/2 tbs cumin seed
24-30 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
12 slices ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Method
1.  Put rinsed grapes into the pint jars
2.  In sauce pan, put all other ingredients
3.  Heat the liquid mix until all the sugar or maple is incorporated
4.  Cool the liquid
5.  Pour the cooled liquid evenly into the 3 jars
6.  Make sure that each jar gets a cinnamon stick and a 1/3 of the other ingredients
7. Close the lids on the grapes and let sit on the counter for 1 hr
8. Put the grapes in the fridge for at least 8 hrs, but 1 day or more is better
9. Enjoy within a week or 2