Long long ago (grape pie)

Concord-like Grape Pie

Although I hate to admit it, I grew up in Western NY. Nonetheless, while things were generally unpleasant for me growing up in this locale, it would be entirely erroneous and unfair of me to deny that, indeed, some good things did come out of that state. Though foggy and few the memories are, I have varied images in my head of my mother dragging us out to some distant farm somewhere or other to pick apples or plums or cherries or grapes, when it still made economic sense to do so (this was before the fruit-picking thing became a family-oriented health-nut's craze, guh, and before it became more expensive to pick your own fruit than to just buy it). As a result of these treks, I have snapshot photos of barns lodged in my mind, of food stands serving icy frozen apple custards, of my mother accidentally stepping into a basket full of cherries when she came down a ladder, and of sitting in the car because the peach orchard air induced in me a full blown allergy attack. Point being, orchards are seriously abundant in Western NY and they are sprawling things, way more Steinbeck-esque than the manicured orchards I've come across in Maryland. And the variety! With the exceptions of strawberry, blueberry, and plum orchards (these fruit trees and plants have a tendency to attract yellow jackets, which makes picking fruit a fairly scary experience), orchards in NY left a good taste in my mouth.

Since I'm digressing on the orchard theme right now, let me also fill you in on another fruit awesome part of NY, as it all relates to my grape story. Vineyards. In addition to orchards, a good deal of wineries were in hour(s) driving vicinity to our home (e.g. Naples), so I also have fond memories of my father and mother taking us to walk through the cellars of Widmer wineries. Widmer wineries is perhaps where my future fascination with wine began, I'm near certain, but maybe that's a story for another day. Anyways, although I've never actually had their wine, Widmer stuck with me, not only because I wasn't allowed to drink wine (oh forbidden fruit), but also because they had this amazing selection of sparkling juices, the best being the concord grape sparkling cider (called Burgundy) and they gave their visitors free wine glasses with the Widmer logo stamped on them. We went back at least three times before their policies changed to "no free wine glasses" and "no more crazy amazing selection of sparkling juices." I know this, because we have exactly 6 Widmer wine glasses in our cabinet at home (2 adults, 2 wine glasses each visit).

As the story goes, as wineries in Western NY have to deal with cold winters, it has a grape variety that you don't really hear about in other states, like California wine country (or maybe you do, I've just rarely hear of them). Concord grapes, a.k.a. the grapiest grapes of all grapes, is in relative abundance come fall season in NY. And as this type of grape isn't often used for wines (apparently, it imparts a musky taste), its bounty becomes wrapped up in all sorts of grape pies, pastries, and jams, with fantastic results. Grape pie is one of my favorite pies, and it wasn't until recently that I rediscovered its tastiness. I remember that my mother, during one season, I don't remember which, took us on a hunt one for the "greatest grape pies." We found it after 3 tries, but before that third time, we came across a couple that were still pretty darn good, so good that I remember all of them in their different forms. The first recipe for grape pies originally comes from a women named Irene Bouchard, and she thickened up the pie with tapioca starch (though any kind of starch can be used), because let's face it, grapes are full of liquid and  the pie fillings comes out super runny. Depending on how jammy you like your pie (or runny), you can use flour, tapioca starch, or tapioca pearls.

While I do think that  runny pies have their advantages, I like my pie fillings on the firmer side.Once a pie starts falling apart, I feel like I'm losing the ratio of fruit to crust, and then I'm thinking about how I'd rather just have a crumble or crisp and some buttery brown sugar tidbits. Point is, I get distracted with runny pies. In terms of this grape pie, I've used both tapioca flour and tapioca pearls, and find that I prefer the pearls over the flour. Not only do the pearls firm up the filling, but they also provide an interesting aesthetic; looks like blueberry pie, tastes like grape.

Concord Grape Pie
makes 4 small pies or 1 large pie

for the pastry
8 oz salted cold butter
250 g (approx 2-1/4 C) flour
1/4 C ice water
 sugar to sprinkle

for the filling 
1/2 C small tapioca pearls
3/4-1 C granulated sugar
2 lbs of concord or concord-like grapes, rinsed
Note: alternatively, the second time I made this pie, you can use a combination of white and red concord grapes, which made the filling less sweet and lighter purple in color

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and liberally butter your pie dish.

To prepare the pie crust, measure out your flour and pile it all onto an even, clean surface. Cut your cold butter into chunks and nestle the pieces into the flour. If you had a food processor, you can put your flour and butter into the processor and pulse until crumbly, but I prefer to do this pie crusts by hand. Using a thin edge (pastry knife you have it. I use a metal spatula), cut the butter pieces into the flour, scraping the flour occasionally towards the center to reform the mound. After all the butter has been cut into little pieces and is evenly distributed throughout the flour, make a little well and start trickling in the water, stirring and mounding until the pastry starts to come together. Then knead until dough-like and roll it into a ball, store loosely wrapped in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

As the dough chills, prepare the filling. First, the tapioca. Take your small tapioca pearls, cover them with water, and boil as well, stirring so they don't stick to the pot, until they are translucent but still have a little itty bitty tiny bit of white in the center (you can cook them all the way through, just makes them harder to drain). It'll look like fish eggs or something. Then in a sieve, rinse and drain the tapioca to the best of your ability. If the texture of tapioca pearls is too weird for you, you can also pulse the tapioca pearls in a food processor to a rough powder before you boil them in water. In this case however, you'll get a thick goo and won't be able to "drain" the tapioca, making your pie a little bit more runny. I lessened it to 1/2C tapioca pearls when I did the food processor thing, and it turned out okay. And of course, if you do this, no "Not blueberry pie, gotcha!" effect.

While that's going on, squeeze the grapes out of their skins, reserving the skins in one bowl and pulp (and seeds) in another. Some notes. Concord grapes, when squeezed, shoot out of the skin, which is pretty much how you tell if you have the right grape or not. If they don't shoot out, not the right grape for this pie. In my experience, this is the only requirement. The first time I made this pie, I used "Concord-like grapes" (as the box said from Hmart), and they were large and sweet and fantastic even though I wasn't sure if they were true concord grapes or not. They shot out of their skins when squeezed though, so that's all that mattered. The second time I made the pie, I used true concord grapes (bought from an Amish stand), and they were more tart and a lot smaller than the ones I got from Hmart. In other words, it took a lot longer for me to shuck 2lbs of grapes. I actually ended up preferring the concord-like grapes over the true concord grapes, both in the pie and for snacking.

Okay, I know, I know. Terrible picture in terms of comparison, but the grapes on the left were SERIOUSLY far bigger than the concord grapes on the right. I thought I was shucking grapes for an hour with those grapes on the right. Also, the grapes on the left gave me a bluish purple color for my pie (the first picture featured at the beginning of this post). On the other hands, the grapes on the right gave me a redder color in the final product. Either way, both were delicious.

Continuing on, after shucking all your grapes, you'll have a bowl full of peels and bowl full of juicy pulp. Put

the pulp in a pot and boil on the stove until all the seeds have separated from the pulp. Then using a colander or a sieve, collect the pulp and strain out the seeds. In regards to the peels, since I don't like having large pieces of peel in my pie, though I definitely need them for the color and taste, I pulse my skins in the food processor until they're more broken up and liquified. After that is done, you now have pretty much all the components of your pie filling. Mix together the chopped up skins, the pulp now devoid of seeds, the tapioca, and add 3/4 to 1 C sugar to taste (adjust depending on how sweet or tart you like your pie filling). Trust me, the room will smell like grape-heaven, or like someone took Welch's grape soda, aerosolized it, and sprayed it all over your kitchen for his or her own personal enjoyment.

Final steps. Take out your chilled dough and, on a floured surface, roll out thinly. Lay gently into your pie pan of choice, making sure the pie crust overlaps the edges. It is important that you get a tight seal around the outer crust, cause this pie will bubble up and you'll lose a lot of filling out of the side if there are gaps in your seal. After the crusts are assembled, pour the filling into the pie crust, cover it with the top crust, and slice holes in the top to let out the steam as it cooks. Sprinkle sugar all over the top. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, or until insides are bubbling and crust is brown on top. Once the crust is brown, remove the pie from the oven and let it cool. This pie is very good when warm, though the insides will be a little runny when warm. However, when cold, this pie is the BOMB and it lasts for a long time in the refrigerator. Also when it's cold, the filling stays put (unless you ground up your pearls, then it's a little runnier, as the pictures shows below. Note though, that the crust in the picture below uses only 4 oz of butter, so it's not flakey).

There you have it, grape pie from western NY. Totally worth it.

White and Red Concord Grape Pie