You know, like you do. I love grapes, but for whatever reason I hadn't had any in a few months. At the grocery store one day I saw they were on sale, so I snagged some. Once I got home, I stuck them on the lowest shelf of the fridge, and there they sat.
And sat. And sat and sat and sat. For like a month. Maybe more. Every now and then I thought about eating them, but I just never did. Finally, a few days ago, I figured they must have grown moldy already and that it was probably time to cut my losses and chuck them. But, to my surprise, they weren't moldy at all.
They weren't bad, they were just...not good.
I very much dislike mushy grapes. They are not good eats, in my opinion. But, I didn't want to throw them out either, since they weren't technically bad. I needed a third option.
Believe it or not, Googling 'what to do with old grapes' doesn't yield too many results. I found a recipe for a grape smoothie, which sounded a little weird, and a few suggestions about making them into wine, and that was about it. I was at a bit of a loss until I came across this recipe for Roasted Grapes on The Kitchn.
It was the perfect solution! Roasting the grapes would take advantage of their mushy condition and transform them into something I was once again interested in eating. Best of all, the recipe only called for ingredients I already had, so I could get started right away!
You can head to The Kitchn for the full recipe since I didn't deviate from it at all, but it's really simple.
I didn't really measure any of the ingredients, I just did the eyeball thing and guestimated. Preheat your oven to 425F, then pluck the grapes from the stem and put them on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper...
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| BTW, all the action is taking place on my dining room table because I'm tired of the terrible lighting conditions in my kitchen. In case anyone was wondering. |
...drizzle with some olive oil, and pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes. When they're done, they'll be all soft and juicy and awesome-smelling.
Roasting the grapes really concentrated their sweetness, giving them a deeper flavor that was almost like grape jam, but not quite. The main difference being that grape jam is terrible and these guys were great. I'm really into sweet and salty flavors, and I though the salt and pepper and olive oil worked perfectly with the flavor of the grapes. You'll also be left with some oil in the pan, mixed with the juices released by the grapes. I saved it; I haven't tried yet but I think it might work well mixed up into a vinaigrette.
The original recipe suggests serving these grapes over some ricotta or goat cheese, but I had a slightly different variation in mind. Which brings us to the World's Best Food Item.
AKA mascarpone cheese.
You may or may not know this, but I love mascarpone cheese with unrivaled intensity. Mascarpone cheese is THE BEST. I've spent hours Googling recipes for cupcakes with mascarpone frosting/filling that might be good to serve at my wedding (side note: I kind of want to DIY my wedding cupcakes, but I also kind of think this might be insane. We'll see.). The only problem is it's kind of expensive. But if I could afford it I'd eat mascarpone at every meal forever. It's great in tiramisu, and on toast, and in pastries, and it's great slathered on some take-and-bake multigrain bread, topped with still-warm roasted grapes, and eaten for snack.
And again for dinner.
And again on top of my oatmeal the following morning.
Probably I will continue to eat this combination until I have run out of mascarpone and/or roasted grapes. And then I'll be sad and long for them until I happen to have another bag of past-their-prime grapes on my hands.
So there you have it! Now you know what to do with old grapes and you'll never again feel burdened by them. Tell your friends!
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