Cooking & Serving Grapes

Grapes are delicious simply served fresh as a dessert, or as an addition to a fruit salad. They may also be used to make sorbets, jam, jelly and juice, or cooked as a garnish for dishes such as sole or chicken Véronique. In France, grape juice is boiled until it is syrupy, and then boiled again with sliced pears, apples, quinces or lemons until it is sticky. This is known as raisiné.

Black or Muscat grapes can be preserved in brandy; prick each grape to make sure that it does not shrivel and then put them into a jar with equal parts of sugar and brandy. Turn the sealed jar every 2 or 3 days; after a week the fruit is ready to eat, poured over ice-cream. The strained brandy can also be used in puddings or served in glasses to accompany the grapes.

Grapes can usually be skinned by simply peeling the skin away from the stem end with the fingernails. If this proves difficult, dip them in scalding water for a minute or so first.

They may be seeded by cutting them in half and scooping out the pips; alternatively push the rounded end of a clean, new hairgrip into the stem end to extract the seeds.