Making raisins is super fun and easy!  It’s an excellent project for children!  Of course, they might eat as many grapes as they prepare, but where’s the harm in that?

I imagine you can make raisins with any seedless variety, but I have had better success with varieties that are a smaller size.  I have two varieties in my garden, a candice that is a small pinkish grape and also a himrod which is a big green grape.  Although the himrod raisins turn out well, they take a very long time to dry.  So now I save the himrod for eating and juice, and use my candice for raisins.

• Use a seedless variety.
• A smaller grape will dry much quicker than a big one.

You can put your grapes on a dehydrator, but I like to use the sun.  Using the sun takes some time. Depending on the weather it might take up to three weeks so make sure you start them as early in the season as you can.  If you run out of good weather you can finish them off in a food dryer, but I am usually able to get them dry in time.

• start them as early as possible

I have an old window screen that I use for drying.  Sometimes, when I need another one, I just swipe a screen off one of my windows and then put it back when I am done.

The process is simple

• Wash the grapes
• Pull them off the stems
• Spread them on a screen
• Cover them with a cloth
• Place them in the sun

Wash the grapes

Pull them off the stems

Spread them on a screen

Cover with cloths

Clip them down

•  Put them in the sun where they won’t be hit by sprinklers.
• Bring them inside if there is rain.
• Watch the progress of your raisins and when they look and taste like yummy raisins then they are done!

Delicious!

I like to keep a container of them in the kitchen for eating and the rest I store in the freezer in plastic containers.  After more than a year they are still wonderful.  I haven’t seen any decline in quality, they are as good as the day I put them in.

 

Check out my other posts http://itsjustaproject.com/how-to-bottle-grape-juice/