What to do With Grapes Before They're Ripe

While we have muscadines, our neighbors have Concord Grapes.  They grow on a big trellis that borders our property and theirs.  The vines have been there for a long time and are as big around as your arm.  The grapes aren't near ripe yet, but we were looking at something else - the grape leaves.  Tricia called the neighbor and asked if we might harvest a few leaves. 

I remember growing up we would go over to a friend's house and his mom and grandma would make grape leaf rolls, kibbie, and tabouleh.  We found a recipe for them and like to make a lebanese recipe for grape leaf rolls that calls for using fresh grape leaves.  The leaves are shaped like hearts.  We wash them up real good first.

We mix up meat with mint and rice and other seasonings.

We place a bit of the mixture of meat and rice on the grape leaf and roll it up almost as you would an egg roll.

In no time at all we have a full casserole dish filled with grape leaf rolls ready to put in the oven.

With a side of chicken and rice and some fresh squash and onions from the garden, the grape leaf rolls were delicious with a lemon sauce spooned over the top.

You don't have to wait for the grapes to be ready to enjoy the bounty of the grape vines.