Ingredients:
3 lb red seedless grapes
1 cup water
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
12 black peppercorns
2 springs rosemary
2 1/4-inch thick slices fresh ginger
2 dried tien tsin peppers
2 bay leaves

Directions:
Prep your jars/lids. Slice an shallow X into the stem side of each grape. Evenly divide the spices and grapes between 2 pint jars. Combine the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour brine over the grapes, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove any bubbles. Seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield: 2 pints

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.

My thoughts:

I love pickled fruit and this year I’ve been even more into pickling fruit then ever before. Jam and jelly takes so much fruit to make even a small batch and it seems like every weekend this summer has either been fully booked, 100 degrees or raining. Which means we haven’t been hitting the pick-your-own farms or even the farmers market the way we have in the past. Pickled fruit however, in addition to being tasty, is much easier to make in small and even very small batches making it an easier and cheaper project than jam/jelly. What I like to do is make a few small batches of different fruit and flavors at once so I can get the most out of heating up that enormous pot of water.

This particular pickles have a heavy herbal note thanks to the fresh ginger, bay leaves and rosemary.