To Keep Grapes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the box
Take a tight box with a cover.
After the dew has dried, sprinkle 1 inch of sawdust over the bottom.
Pack the grapes
Carefully layer in grapes, ensuring they are not too crowded.
Sprinkle more sawdust on top of the grapes.
Seal and store
Tack on the cover to exclude air.
Store the box in the coolest place in your cellar.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- The fruit being preserved; keeping them cool and unbruised in a sealed box slows spoilage.
- Fine sawdust
- Cushions the grapes and surrounds them, limiting contact with air and moisture loss.
The step that matters
Sprinkling the sawdust after the dew has dried. Grapes packed while wet carry surface moisture into the box, which encourages mould and rot. Waiting for the dew to dry keeps the fruit dry before it is sealed in.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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