Concord Grape Pie
Farmer John sent back some Concord Grapes from Kentucky for his Mom, Carol, and I to use so we decided to make some Concord Grape Jam. It was our first time and it’s delicious. We ended up with 20 jelly jars between us, isn’t that great? I remember my Grandmother making grape kuchen when I was growing up that was delicious so I went digging through her old recipe box to see what else she had and found her Grape Pie recipe. It called for orange zest, which I didn’t have on hand, and a tablespoon of butter to be added to the grape pulp, which I didn’t read until just now, so I guess I took some liberties. I also increased the amount of grapes and I thought it tasted great. This pie will make your mouth water as your eating it, it’s that good!
Concord Grape Pie
6 cups concord grapes, washed
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon orange rind
1 ½ Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 crust pie dough
1 Tablespoon milk
1 Tablespoon coarse sugar
Separate skins from pulp by gently squeezing the grapes into a medium saucepan, the pulp will come out and the skin will be left between your fingers. Put skins in a separate bowl.
Cook the pulp until soft and seeds begin to pull away from pulp, 5-10 minutes. Put grape pulp in a food mill or rub through a sieve to remove seeds.
Combine the grape pulp, grape skins, sugar, a pinch of salt, cornstarch, grated orange rind and lemon juice. Taste and adjust sugar if needed. I like my pie a bit on the tart side.
Place pie dough in a 9” pie plate, pour grape mixture into crust. Top with a lattice crust by crisscrossing the top with strips of pie dough. Brush crust with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake at 450° for 10 minutes, then turn down oven to 350° and bake for 30 minutes longer or until the juices are bubbling. This is the most important tip when baking the perfect pie; the juices need to be bubbling throughout the entire pie. This will cook the fruit and thicken the juices.
Serve at room temperature. I personally like to eat my grape pie out of the refrigerator cold.
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The grape pie was terrific!!! Wanted to share a grape harvest tip. Hang an umbrella upsidedown under the vines and cut the grape clusters into the umbrella!!!
(Is there an UN-rain dance?) Farmer John