How to store grape leaves and prepare them for dolma for the winter

Knowing several important points in this matter will help every housewife to easily feed her family in winter with a delicious surprise with the aroma of summer.

Harvesting grape leaves

Summer is the best time to collect the main ingredient for dolma. The most optimal period for harvesting grape leaves of white varieties is May-June. It is best to collect smooth leaves with a delicate surface for preservation. Their veins should not be thick.

You cannot collect raw materials:

• from wild varieties (maiden or ornamental grapes), they are not suitable for consumption;
• with fungal diseases, mold and pests;
• which has a strange color: yellowish, whitish or creamy;
• if it has darkening, then there is sunburn;
• from a growing vine near the roadway.

Old grape leaves also cannot be considered suitable; they contain harmful substances. Following the recommendations of experienced gardeners, it is best to pick the 5-7th leaf from the vine crown. Ideally, all copies should be the same size.

Proper storage of grape leaves for the winter

The most common and simplest way to stock up on raw materials for dolma for the winter is considered freezing. After rolling the grape leaves, they need to be packed in a plastic bag and sent to the freezer. Defrosting such a preparation is also quite simple. You just need to put the bag of leaves in cold water.

Also, raw materials for dolma can be stored fresh. To do this, you need to twist the leaves (7-10 pieces each) and place them in a glass container. Then sterilize them in the oven for about half an hour. After this, the jars with the preparations must be taken to a place where it is dark and cool.

Many housewives like pickled grape leaves. To prepare the raw materials for dolma in this way, you must first make a brine: dilute 2 tablespoons of salt in 1 liter of water. Then pour the resulting liquid over the leaf rolls in the jar. You can close them with lids only the next morning. The product must be stored in the refrigerator.

You can also preserve it this way: the collected grape leaves must be placed in a “stack” of 20 pieces, then rolled into a tube. After which, the resulting rolls should be dipped into very hot water for 3 seconds, and then immediately into cold water. Then the future raw materials for dolma must be placed in jars and filled with cold brine: 45 grams of salt per 1 liter of water. After 2-3 days, pour 1 tsp into each jar. vinegar and seal them with lids.

Salting grape leaves is also a good way to prepare raw materials for dolma for the winter. To do this, you need to prepare a ten percent saline solution and pour it into the leaves in one and a half liter jars. They must be stored in a cool place.Then, before preparing dolma, the grape leaves need to be soaked in water for 2 hours.

See also: how to pickle grape leaves for the winter.

Optimal shelf life of grape leaves prepared in different ways

Having prepared raw materials for dolma using one of the methods, you should understand that the shelf life for each of them is completely different.

1. If after harvesting the grape leaves are not put in the refrigerator, then at room temperature they will be suitable for use for 1-2 days.
2. In the refrigerator, wrapped in a damp cloth, the leaves can be stored for up to 14 days. Provided that the temperature in it is from 0 to +2°C.
3. Grape leaves can be stored in the freezer for about 1 year.
4. Dried are suitable for consumption for 9-12 months.
5. Salted and pickled (sterilized) grape leaves are stored for 3 months to six months.

Compliance with all the rules will help to properly preserve and prepare grape leaves for dolma for the winter.

Learn about three ways to prepare grape leaves from the video.