Carolee’s first Grape Leaf

My daughter-in-law wrote on Facebook today that she went out on their land in Northern Wisconsin, picked some grape leaves, stuffed and wrapped them and cooked them. Grape Leaves. This is Middle Eastern tradition that was passed on by my mother’s side of the family, of Lebanese origins. My brothers and sister and their families really like to eat them but for many years it was only when my mother cooked them. Before she died she passed on the way of making them to my wife and my younger brother. I know how to pick, wrap and now cook them. Some years ago my wife put together the recipe that had been passed on for years and it cannot be found on www.nonviolentcow.org at Stuffed Grape Leaves.

An interesting thing about grape leaves, with or without grapes, is the vine can be found everywhere and in abundance. I saw some growing in India, Guatemala, Venezuela, Palestine and elsewhere. We have some growing on the fence in the backyard, some growing in the park and many growing on the bike trail called ‘Oak Leaf trail’ by most and by me the ‘Grape Leaf Trail’. They are a truly sustainable food, coming back year after year and the more you pick them the more they grow.

Around here June is the best month to pick them but this year, due to late spring, they still are fresh. If you pick them new ones will grow in the spot but if you do not they become too big, old and holey. Holey grape leaves, full of holes, are not good to pick. So the last chance to pick grape leaves is coming up soon.

After we picked grape leaves we clean them and freeze them. When we are ready to eat them, we take them out of the freezer, blanch them in hot water and they are are ready to wrap.

When my two grandsons were very young they liked to pick them and wrap them but were fearful of eating them. I told them that was unfortunate because unless they ate them they could not be part of the Graf Family Grape Leaf Club. So my youngest grandson tried one, like it, and so did my other grandson. When my granddaughter was very young a stuffed grape leaf was given to her at a Christmas celebration so she had no doubts they were good. She is the youngest member of the Grape Leaf Club and I am the oldest.

My younger brother, by eighteen years, is coming to town tonight with his two young adult sons. They are coming for Summerfest, the biggest music festival in the world, but maybe I can get them out to pick some grape leaves. My wife always says we picked too many and they are only for special occasions but every year they are all consumer before the June picking month.

Grape leaves are served best with a Middle Easter yogurt called Lebane with cucumber and mint and with pita bread which I can now buy fresh at the local Palestinian store. Look around your yard and park and you will probably find grape leaf vines. (We mostly used the ones with grapes.) Grape leaves, like manna, are a gift from heaven found in nature. Pick them when they are middle size, stuff and eat them when you want. Grape leaves are sustainable and gift of nature.

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