Pickling is the most reliable way to prepare grape leaves for the winter. Prepared in this way, they acquire the aroma of spices and piquant sourness.
Leaves of any grape variety are suitable for pickling. It is not recommended to use wild greens - they have an unpleasant taste and are too tough.
It is recommended to collect leaves only from young shoots. You need to handle them very carefully, trying not to damage them. Be sure to pick with tails. They should be juicy, light emerald, without damage, plaque, stains, or traces of insects.
Note: For pickling, you need to use only freshly picked grape leaves.
Before cooking, the collected raw materials must be prepared. The cuttings of the leaves are cut, placed in a deep bowl and filled with cold tap water. Each specimen is carefully inspected and washed. After this, they are laid out in one layer on a horizontal surface and dried - they should not be wet.
For pickling you need young greens
You can pickle grape leaves in different ways: with vinegar, without vinegar, with additives and spices.
How to use
The leaves are marinated for the winter to prepare dolma. But this is not the only use of the product, which is quite widely used in cooking in the southern regions. Pickled grape leaves are served as an appetizer for vegetable, meat, and fish dishes. They go well with beans, chickpeas, peas, and pilaf. They are added to salads and placed in jars when canning vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers) as a spice.
In the southern regions, grape leaves are pickled to prepare dolma
Classic recipe
For the marinade you will need the following ingredients (per 1 liter of water):
Physalis vegetable jam
- 1 tablespoon salt;
- 1 tablespoon sugar;
- 1 tablespoon acetic acid;
- Bay leaf;
- peppercorns;
- carnation.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Sterilize glass containers.
- Place bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and grape leaves on the bottom of the jars. Pour boiling water over and leave for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain the water from the cans into a saucepan, put on the fire and bring to a boil, add salt and sugar.
- When salt and sugar are completely dissolved, add vinegar.
- Pour the prepared marinade into jars and roll up.
With this harvesting method, the leaves remain intact. You can use any spices to suit your taste.
Preparing grape leaves for cabbage rolls
Before you start storing the collected grape leaves for the winter, you need to prepare them for further processing. Trim the petioles or “tails” at the base of the leaf. Rinse the young leaves thoroughly under running water.
Then dry them by laying them out on a clean towel. If the leaves are of different sizes, sort them into two or three piles.
Grape leaves for dolma or cabbage rolls can be prepared for future use in one of the following ways:
- pickling
- pickling
- freezing
- preparation in plastic bottles
- dry canning.
Pickling grape leaves
Grape leaves pickled for future use are very popular. You will learn how to pickle grape leaves for winter storage in the following recipe.
- Take the prepared leaves, roll them into 10-15 pieces and place them tightly in the jar.
- The jar and lid must be thoroughly washed and sterilized.
- Next, pour boiling water over the leaves for 10 minutes, and after this manipulation, drain the water.
- Do this procedure twice.
- Now fill the workpiece with boiling marinade solution and seal with a lid.
- Turn the jar upside down and cover with a warm blanket. Wait until it cools down completely.
Recipe for making marinade No. 1:
Water – 1 liter
9 percent vinegar - 2 tablespoons
Salt – 1 tablespoon
Sugar – 1 tablespoon
But in Azerbaijani cuisine, leaves are pickled without vinegar, only salt and citric acid.
Marinade recipe No. 2:
Water 1 liter
Salt – 1 tbsp. spoon without slide
Citric acid – 1/2 teaspoon.
Canned grape leaves can be stored at room temperature.
You can combine canning tomatoes and cucumbers with grape leaves. Take recipes from our website and cook for the winter 3 in 1!
Salting grape leaves for dolma for the winter
There is a recipe, proven by generations, on how to preserve grape leaves. You can simply pickle them!
The brine is prepared as follows: boil water with salt at the rate of 20 grams per 1 liter of liquid.
- We take 10-15 prepared leaves, wrap them in rolls and place them tightly in a jar. The same as we did when we pickled the leaves. The jars must first be washed and sterilized. To prevent the rolls from falling apart, you can tie them with a thread.
- Fill with warm brine up to the neck so that the entire contents are completely covered.
- Next you need to roll up the jars and cool them.
They are stored in a dark room at a low temperature or in a cellar. If there is no cellar, then in the refrigerator.
Before stuffing the leaves, it is recommended to soak them in water for 15 minutes.
For spicy lovers, there is an option with mustard .
- Place the leaves in a 1 liter jar.
- Cover them with a mixture of: 1 tbsp. l. salt, 1 tbsp. l. mustard and 1 tsp. ground pepper.
- Pour boiling water into the jar on top.
- Close the lid.
- Place the lid down.
- Wrap up.
- Keep it this way until the jar cools down.
Keep refrigerated.
Preparing grape leaves for the winter for dolma Freezing
We prepare many products using freezing. Grape leaves for cabbage rolls are also frozen. This way all useful elements are preserved.
- Take 10-15 prepared leaves and roll them tightly into a tube.
- To prevent the tube from unfolding, you can tie the leaves with thread or wrap the tube in cling film.
- Place several finished tubes in a transparent plastic bag.
- Place in the freezer for storage.
Such preparations are compact and do not take up much space in the freezer.
Attention! Before stuffing the leaves, it is recommended to rinse them with hot water.
Tip: It is not recommended to wash the leaves immediately before freezing to prevent them from becoming brittle and brittle. As a last resort, it is allowed to wipe them. Dry the leaves thoroughly before freezing.
How to prepare grape leaves for dolma in a bottle for the winter
Preparing grape leaves for dolma in bottles for the winter is a way to keep this valuable product fresh. Preserving vine shoots in a bottle is done like this: roll 2-3 sheets and put them in a plastic bottle.
Attention! The bottle must be clean and dry.
Compact until the bottle is completely filled.
It is recommended to keep a bottle with grape leaves in a cool, dark place; under these conditions, the shelf life is at least 1 year.
How to prepare grape leaves for dolma for the winter using the dry method
- Place the prepared grape leaves for dolma, one at a time, into a washed glass container, sprinkling a little salt.
- Place the leaves in this manner until the jar is filled.
- Place the workpiece in the oven and sterilize at low temperature for about ten minutes.
- Seal the jar with a sterilized lid.
- Place the container in a cool, dark place - in a refrigeration unit or underground.
This semi-finished product can be stored for up to 1 year.
For dolma with vinegar
Grape leaves for dolma can be pickled for the winter at home in a simple way.
You need to prepare the following ingredients:
- 120 young grape leaves;
- 1 tablespoon sugar;
- 200 ml white wine vinegar;
- 2 tablespoons salt;
- 3 liters of water.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Select young greens. Rinse in cold water and dry thoroughly. Do this carefully so as not to damage.
- Stack six leaves and roll them into a roll.
- To prepare the marinade, you need to pour water into a saucepan, add sugar, wine vinegar and salt. Put on fire, bring to a boil, stirring constantly, remove from heat.
- Sterilize the jars, place rolled grape leaves in them, and fill them with marinade to the very top.
- Roll up with tin lids and turn over.
To keep the blanks longer, they are sterilized before rolling.
How to pickle grape leaves
- First, prepare the leaves for pickling: wash the grape leaves in cold water and cut off the tails.
- Prepare a 10% saline solution. To do this, dissolve 3.5 tablespoons of salt in a liter of water.
- Place the leaves in half-liter jars, fill with cold saline solution, and cover with lids.
- Salted leaves must be stored in a cool place. Before preparing dolma, the leaves must be soaked in cold water for two hours.
Housewives often wonder which grape leaves are suitable for dolma. You need to approach their choice quite carefully. Young leaves from white grape varieties are best.
Without vinegar
The following ingredients will be required:
- 3 liters of water;
- 100-120 young grape leaves;
- 3 tablespoons salt.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Wash the grape greens, dry thoroughly with a towel, and cut off the stems.
- To prepare the brine, mix water with salt and place on the stove. Boil.
- Roll the leaves into rolls of 10 pieces. Place them tightly in sterile dry jars and pour boiling brine over them.
- Close with screw or nylon lids. Keep refrigerated.
Note: If you intend to store pickled grape leaves for a long time, you must use a recipe with vinegar and cover the preparation with an airtight lid.
With mustard
This is another recipe for those who prefer similar preparations without vinegar. The following ingredients will be required:
- 60 pieces of grape leaves;
- 1 teaspoon salt;
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder;
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Rinse the greens and immerse them in very hot water for a few seconds.
- Roll the leaves into tubes of ten pieces each, place them in 500 ml jars, compacting them.
- Add salt, mustard and pepper to each container. Pour in boiling water.
- 4 Seal the jars hermetically, place them upside down, and cover with a warm blanket.
- When the pieces have cooled, put them in a cool place.
Green grapes are poured with boiling water before rolling into tubes.
Canned grape leaves
It has been proven that grape leaves are a healthy dietary product. They contain a large amount of fiber, vitamins, iron, zinc, phosphorus, and ascorbic acid. If you properly prepare this low-calorie product for the winter, then all year round you can prepare dishes that contain useful substances that reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other diseases.
Canned grape leaves can be prepared in two ways.
Dry canning
Ingredients:
- grape leaves;
- salt.
Preparation:
You will need dry, sterilized jars.
- Washed and dried grape leaves are placed one at a time on the bottom.
- Every 10 sheets add half a teaspoon of salt.
- When the jar is completely filled, cover it with a metal lid and place it in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
- The container is tightly sealed with a lid.
When this preparation is opened in winter, the fragrant aroma of grape leaves spreads throughout the kitchen. This method of canning allows you to preserve as much as possible all the beneficial properties given by the vine.
Pickling
Ingredients:
- grape leaves;
- water;
- salt;
- vinegar.
Preparation:
Pickled grape leaves are also used to make dolma and other various dishes.
- Cut young leaves are thoroughly washed under running water and stacked on top of each other.
- The resulting “pack” needs to be rolled into a tube and wrapped with thread.
- To make the leaves softer, each roll is dipped in boiling water for a few seconds and then in cold water.
- The brine is prepared from 1 liter of water and 40 g of salt. There is no need to boil it, but it is important that the salt dissolves completely.
- Rolls of leaves are placed tightly in jars. It is better to use glass containers with a volume of 0.5 l or 0.7 l.
- Each jar is filled with brine, covered with a metal lid and left to ferment for 3 days.
- The final stage of marinating is sterilization. Place the jars in a saucepan with boiling water and sterilize over heat for 20 minutes. But before that, add a teaspoon of 9 percent vinegar to each jar.
- Sealed pickled grape leaves for dolma can be stored even without a refrigerator.
With lemon
Grape leaves prepared in this way can be used as an addition to various dishes.
Required ingredients:
- 400 g grape leaves;
- 1 lemon.
For the marinade (per 1 liter of water):
- 60 g sugar;
- 30 g citric acid;
- 28 g salt.
Step-by-step preparation:
- Wash the lemon and grape greens.
- Grate the zest and cut the pulp into thin slices.
- Roll five leaves into a tube, place tightly in clean glass jars, line them with lemon slices.
- Prepare the marinade: pour water, add sugar, citric acid and salt, put on fire, wait until it boils while stirring constantly.
- Pour boiling brine over the leaves folded into jars.
- Sterilize jars with contents for 10 minutes, then roll up. Turn over and leave for 15 hours. After this, put it away for storage.
Rolled leaves should be placed in jars as tightly as possible
In tomato
The following ingredients will be required:
- grape leaves;
- 1 onion;
- tomato juice (it should fill a third of the jar);
- salt (to taste).
Step-by-step preparation:
- Trim cuttings from grape leaves. Place them in a container, cover with cold water, and leave for 45 minutes.
- Then stack them in stacks of 10 and roll them into rolls.
- Take sterilized dry jars, place the leaves, compacting tightly so that there is about 5 cm of free space up to the neck of the jar.
- Pour boiling water into the jars and leave for 15 minutes.
- Place the onion in the tomato juice, add salt to taste, put on the fire and bring to a boil.
- 6Drain the water from the jars, pour in boiling tomato juice, roll up or close with screw caps.
- Turn the jars over and wrap them up. Leave for 2 days. Then send it for storage.
One way to preserve grape greens is marinating in tomato sauce.
Canned grape leaves for dolma
Cooking time: 40 minutes. Servings: 90 leaves. Calorie content: 93 kcal per 100 g of product. Kitchen appliances and utensils: jar, seaming lid and machine, saucepan and hob.
Ingredients
| Water | 3 l |
| grape leaves | 90 pcs. |
| Salt | 1 tsp. |
Step by step recipe
- Clear 90 pcs. grape leaves from debris, trim the tails.
- Fold in packs of 10 pieces and wrap with a tube. Wrap along, not across, the fibers to avoid breaking.
- Tie the tubes with thread and place in a liter jar. Do this with each pack and fill the jar tightly with them.
- Fill with cold water, slightly higher than the “hangers” of the jar, add 1 tsp. salt. Cover with a lid for preservation.
- Place the jar in a high saucepan and fill it with water just below its shoulders. Cover with a lid, boil and sterilize over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Roll up the jar, let cool, cover with a blanket and store in a dark place.
Video recipe for preparing canned grape leaves for dolma for the winter
Let's watch a short video that shows in detail how to preserve grape leaves for dolma.
