Let's Make Some PIE! With Tikiwahine (lotsa photos)

Because EVERYONE loves pie!

Today I decided to make some Concord Grape Pies. I first discovered this tasty treat last year when trying to figure out what to do with all the grapes in the back yard. The year we bought the house we attempted wine, but it turned out to be too acidic. Here's the label I made in illustrator:

Unfortunately my dog likes to eat everything edible in the back yard, and apparently grapes can do some major kidney damage to the canine family. So we found a simple recipe online. It uses grapes, lemon juice(I used lime today, since I of course had a spare one in the fridge) sugar, flour, a dab of butter and a pinch of salt.

I picked all the grapes that were left.

I dumped them into a sink full of cool water and removed them from their stems, quite the grape orgy in there!

Then the skins get removed from the innards. A simple yet time consuming job. (did you know that all grapes are white inside, only the skins contain the pigment?)

The nekked grapes are brought to a boil.

Then put through a food mill to remove the seeds.

Then they go back with the skins and the dry ingredients are added.

And then they go into the pie shells! (there's Gypsy protesting in the background)

Heres one fresh baked! Mmmmm... pie - Complete with pie bird(I collect them too)

Mmmmmmm....... Pie.............I love pie!

How do they taste when they are done? I can't get the image of grape jelly with a pie crust out of my head to imagine how wonderful that really has to be.

And! How is it with some ice-cream on the side?

I'd kill for one of those. (Does anybody need someone rubbed out?). Wow!

Wow! It's even more fun seeing the process after your preview yesterday... strange I somehow feel like I was there. Now... I'm hungry!

mmm... i like pie...

Had I seen this thread earlier today, I'd of been scratching at your door with Gypsy. That quite a harvest of grapes too!

Damn, that looks good! Love the pie-bird, too (I didn't even know there was such a thing)!
Hey TW - any of that wine still laying around? That label is hilarious! er...not sure if I'd actually drink it, tho'.

Chip n Andy, The pie reminds me of blueberry, but the taste is pure grape & quite tangy.

Hello tiki, I wish pies were ship-friendly, I'd send a little one out to friends who wanted to try a slice.

Otiki, the process is the the next best part, to eating them of course!

J$, I think all the world's problems could be solved with pie.

Peter, I've got two frozen & ready to cook, if you're over and there's still one left I'll cook it up for you.

Twitch, the wine is all gone(finally) but I keep the label on the computer. Other wine labels I've made include Red Tide(blackberry) and Blue Angel(blueberry) I'm glad you liked the 'Baby Duck' parody.

We made 25 jars of lime, cliantro & homegrown tomato salsa yesterday, but DrunkenMunky wouldn't let me design anything fancy for a food product. I came up with the name 'Gentle Hell', but they remain only dated.

Oh, you Canadians! Shouwing your naked grapes to the entire Interweb!

Grapes are amazing to cook with, when pitted (you can use a cherry pitter to do it too) as mentioned they taste just like blueberries, but bigger and better!

Here's a simple way of cooking with them, we do it all the time and guests never know what it it, just that it tastes great;

Just mix up a Betty Crocker cake, Golden Yellow is perfect. I add some ground nuts for texture, as well. Then plop a few handfulls of pitted dark/black grapes on top. As the cake cooks, the grapes sink down into the cake.

Serve warm with fresh whipped cream. We call it Wine Country Cake. It's delicious.