How to Get Free Vine Leaves (and What to Do With Them)

Consider the undervalued grape leaf. The vines are pruned every year, turning brown and woody, and emerge alive fresh with green shoots in late spring. These vines grow aggressively each year, taking over any structure they can. The grapes are in the spotlight, but the leaves should not be overlooked either. They are versatile and delicious in ways you might not know and are the basis of some mind blowing summer treats.

How to find grape leaves for free

You can go to most grocery stores yourself and buy canned vine leaves ready to eat. A jar costs between $4 and $12, and you only get about fifty leaves. I have no complaints about the taste, but the cost usually prevents people from using them more. If you can get hold of real vines, then the infinite supply of leaves will be yours for free.

Most of us don’t grow vines (although I’d lobby that just one vine is a great addition for reasons I’ll outline below), but they’re not hard to find because: wine. That’s right, somewhere near you is a vineyard. I know this because I’ve been to some really shitty places and there’s still a vineyard somewhere around. In addition, people grow grapes almost everywhere, and often they are simply overwhelmed with fruits and vines and are happy to find others to help them. They do not need these leaves, so they are unlikely to mind someone taking them.

Find them the way I recommend looking for most things: through local gardening groups on Facebook, Discord, or Reddit. Don’t bother looking for messages about grape leaves, no one writes about them, you need to write that you are looking for someone who will let you take a few grape leaves and that you will only take a few from each vine and this will not hurt the grapes at all (we’re going to leave enough to cover these grapes). As a side note, you need to be sure these vines are not sprayed.

Once you find a few vines, you will look for leaves using two criteria: you want them to be big enough to wrap around, and you want them to be bright green, not army green. The darker and thicker leaves are not suitable for eating, so we will focus on the younger bright green ones. Usually it is 3-5 leaves per vine.

To pluck them, you simply pluck them along with the stem, being careful not to damage the vine. You want to make sure that any young grapes have leaf coverage, so you shouldn’t go overboard. Take as much as you’re allowed (they keep well), throw them in a bucket and go home.

How to save grape leaves

In particular, the popular “pint and a half” ball jars are ideal for storing grape leaves, and they are the same size as the grape leaf jars you buy at the store. Take all your leaves, unroll them evenly, then put them in a bucket of water and rinse well to clean.

Place an 8 liter saucepan on the stove and fill it with water. Add 8 tablespoons of canned or other non-iodized salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Let it boil, then boil. Divide your leaves into stacks of about fifty leaves. Take a pair of tongs, grasp the leaves by one end, dip them into the water and hold the tongs under the water for 12-15 seconds. They will quickly turn dark green. Take them out of the water, shake them off and place them on a cutting board. Repeat this for all leaves.

Once they are cool enough to work with, you take the stack, fold the bottom, then fold both sides and roll the leaves tightly into a cigar shape. Use a piece of twine to tie the cigar together so it holds its shape and then submerge it in the jar. The jar should hold a few cigars, so stuff them in there.

Now add ¼ teaspoon of citric acid to the jar and fill with water from the saucepan, leaving a half inch of free space on top. Put on a clean lid, then work it in a water bath for ten minutes. This means you will get a large pot with the jars level, put a towel on the bottom of the pot and fill the pot with hot water. Place the jars tightly packed but all on the same level and make sure the water covers them by a few inches, then slowly bring the water to a boil with the lid on.

Once boiling, turn on the clock and let it simmer for ten minutes, then turn off the stove and let the pot come to room temperature, then remove the jars. If thirty minutes after the jar was removed, the lid stuck, then it is safely processed and stable during storage. Each can costs at least $6-8 and encourages you to make more from vine leaves throughout the year.

How to use grape leaves

If you have access to raw grape leaves, they have several uses. The tannic acid in them makes them a common addition to marinades. Like oak leaves, the tannins help keep your vegetables crisp while marinating. You simply add a leaf to the top or bottom of your jars and process them. Therefore, it is convenient to have at least a single vine at home.

You can also use fresh or salted vine leaves to wrap cheeses for more flavor. Personally, I love wrapping scallops in them and then frying them, or just wrapping fresh mozzarella in them to spice things up. They are tender and soft, but the salty taste makes them magical.

But the main reason people buy grape leaves is to make dolma or dolmades – stuffed grape leaves. These Turkish or Greek delicacies are perfect for a summer snack or as a lunch. This is a phenomenal option for a picnic or lunch because it is essentially finger food. Traditionally, the rice mixture is wrapped in leaves and then rolled into small cylinders, and dolmadas are usually vegetarian and meat-based.

A vegetarian option, usually served cold, is Lemon Rice with Pine Nuts and Capers, served with a yoghurt dipping sauce. A less vegetarian version is lamb mixed with rice served hot with a thick spicy lemon avgolemono-like sauce. As a wrapper, grape leaves add a sweet saltiness, and if you choose the right leaves when picking them, they’re not stringy at all in texture. You bite through them easily.

But you can also ditch tradition and fill it with any grain for a light summer snack or snack. Roll the leaves with cooked couscous, pickled red onion, sliced ​​almonds, and feta as shown in the picture above for a fresh taste. There are enough chunks of crispy parsley in this chickpea and bulgur recipe to be truly refreshing. The Turkish version of dolma usually has tomatoes, and when the summer season comes, you can top them with diced yellow zucchini and zucchini in the mix, and add some harissa spices.

About once a month I make a more traditional lamb and beef dolmada, which I pack in the fridge for a snack, but always end up obsessively eating every meal until they’re gone. They let me drive out of town once a year to visit someone I found in my gardening group years ago. He grows several varieties of grapes at home and allows me to go outside to pick the leaves. It’s worth it because of the free leaves that make this usually expensive treat affordable, and also because it’s how I meet interesting people. Enjoy this recipe.

Amanda’s Stuffed Grape Leaves

• 100 vine leaves you canned yourself or 2 cans of vine leaves from the supermarket
• ½ pound minced lamb
• ½ pound ground beef, 90% meat or more
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 large garlic clove
• 4 oz capers
• ½ cup pine nuts (optional, you can omit them if they’re not in your price range, or replace them with crushed almonds)
• 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice
• 6 cups broth (because lamb broth is not available, I use thick chicken broth)
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tbsp Salt
• Pepper to taste

Peel the onion, cut it into quarters and place in a food processor along with the peeled garlic and chop to make a paste. Add the onion, beef, lamb, rice, nuts and capers to a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add spices and lemon juice and stir again.

Unpack the leaves and lay them in a pile on a cutting board. Take a heavy-bottomed pot and place it next to you. Put a layer of grape leaves on the bottom of the pan to cover it.

Now take one grape leaf and place it on a cutting board with the stem facing you. Cut or pinch off the stem and place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in the bottom third closest to you. Fold the bottom of the sheet up and over the top, moving away from you. Now fold the left and right sides of the sheet around the filling, and then gently fold the sheet away from you around the filling.

Place the rolled sheet, seam side down, in the pan. Repeat with the other leaves, stacking them tightly until the layer is full. Then start a new layer and continue until you run out of leaves.

Place a plate slightly smaller than the saucepan upside down on top of the dolmada. This should weigh them down. Now pour the broth over them, making sure they are completely covered. Cover the pot with a lid and slowly bring to a boil over medium heat, then quickly reduce the heat to low. Simmer covered for 45 minutes to an hour. You’ll know it’s done when the liquid is gone.

Transfer the dolmadas one by one to a storage container in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to eat, you simply reheat them (they’re very convenient to use in the microwave) and either add a pinch of salt and pepper or make a lemon sauce.

Lemon sauce for stuffed grape leaves

• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups rich chicken broth
• Handful of fresh chopped parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

Add corn starch to ½ cup stock and set aside. If you let it steep for a few minutes, the cornstarch will rehydrate and be easier to blend. Meanwhile, put the rest of the broth in a pot on the stove and add the lemon juice. Let the saucepan come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Use a fork to mix the cornstarch into the reserved stock, making sure there are no lumps, then add it to the pot and mix well.

Break the egg into a separate bowl and beat it well. Take a ladle and while you are beating the egg, slowly pour in a tablespoon or two of the hot broth mixture. The eggs should not curdle if you beat them constantly, but temper them. Repeat this process until there is a cup of hot broth in the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture to the saucepan and continue beating the sauce. Let it simmer for 6-8 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Then pour it over dolmada, sprinkle with parsley and live your best life.