Homemade Raisins (Pareve)

INGREDIENTS:

Two large bunches green, seedless grapes

I recently bought a lot of grapes at the Tel Aviv local farmer's market thinking both my boyfriend and myself would chomp through them quickly. Well, they sat and sat in the fridge and not even a nibble from either one of us. I saw that they were about to become very 'tired' looking, and not wanting to throw away food (or money), I decided it would be great to make homemade raisins to throw in with the homemade granola I intend to make in the coming days. The recipe is simple, you just need a pot of boiling water, a baking sheet, and an oven on very low temperature.

Preheat your oven to 135 F, or if you have a celsius oven like I do, about 60 C. And if your oven is anything like mine (old and cheap) I have to increase the oven temperature a little to account for the loss of heat, so I set my temperature to about 70 C. The actual time it takes to make the raisins will vary from oven to oven, anywhere from 9 to 14 hours.

First, remove the grapes from their stems and wash well. Set a large pot of water to boil to blanch the grapes. Blanching the fruit before dehydrating will make sure the fruit and the skin maintain one consistency once the fruit is dried. I selected a pot large enough to hold my sieve so that I could easily put the grapes in and take them out, as they only need to be in the boiling water for 45 seconds to 1 minute. After the allotted time, remove the grapes from the pot and cool by running cold water over them or submerging them in an ice bath.

Now, lay the grapes out onto paper towels to dry. And then move them to your baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and close the door. Leave them in there and check on them every so often. You want the raisins to be pliable, not too dry and not too wet, so as you see them drying out keep an eye on them so you don't get raisin pebbles instead!

Once dried, place your raisins in a closed tupperware or glass jar and mark the date on your storage container. Your raisins will stay for 6 months up to a year.

Enjoy!