If you've never had the pleasure of smelling the intoxicating scent of grapes that are right off the vine, then I think you can't really say you know what grape is. I'm not talking about grapes from the grocery store. They are good, but nothing beats the grapes that come from a vine in back of the farm stand where you purchased them or the grapes that come from your own vine. The aroma is special.

This recipe is an old family favorite. My Granny made this pie, passed the recipe to my mother, I've adapted it a little and Garden Maven Colleen also makes it. I love that generational thing!

The ingredients are simple; just some grapes, a pie shell, a little thickener and some sugar. The pie is very unusual. Most people have never heard of Grape Pie. Once you try it, you'll crave it. Garden Maven Colleen and I think this is one of the best pies EVER.

Concord grapes are the best variety to use for this recipe. Concords are especially good for making juice, jelly, jam, and pies. If you don't have access to Concords, that's a pity. They are wonderful. But don't let lack of Concords hold you back. Try another variety that is readily available to you. A grape that has seeds will probably work better than seedless as they generally have more flavor. However, as with Concords, the seeds have to be removed before baking the pie. This is the tedious part of this recipe. It's not difficult. It's just a little messy and time consuming. But, it is well worth the effort.

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

1. Prepare pie dough. Roll out and place in oiled pie plate. Set aside. Save some dough to make lattice top.
2. Wash grapes. Remove the seeds. This can be a little tricky. Not hard, just tricky. You might want to wear plastic food quality gloves as the grapes can stain your skin, but I never do. Gently squeeze a grape until the pulp pops out of the skin. Then locate the seeds and squeeze them out of the pulp. The Concords I used had about 3 seeds in each grape. This species really wants to make sure it stays with us! The seeds have a tendency to stick to the pulp or skin, so be careful that you get them all. After doing this for a while, you'll see that the seeds come out most easily in very ripe grapes. They also come out easily if you can squeeze at the base of the pulp allowing the seeds to pop out where the grape was attached to the stem. Put the skins and pulp in a pot.
3. Gently heat the grapes on low to medium heat. Add sugar and salt. Make a slurry with about 1/8-cup water and the cornstarch. Add to the grapes. Gently stir until dissolved. Look for and remove any seeds that may have found their way into the pot. Taste the mixture and adjust sugar. The pie should not be overly sweet. It should be grape! Heat until warm.
4. Pour grapes into prepared crust.
5. Roll out dough and cut into strips. Use strips to top pie in a lattice style.
6. Bake at 452 degrees for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 20 more minutes or until crust is completely done. I like to set my pie plate on a cookie sheet that has sides to avoid having any bubbling over grape juice burn in my oven.
7. Serve this pie warm or at room temperature. A nice size scoop of vanilla ice cream goes very well with this pie, but it is delicious enough to stand on its own anytime. Enjoy!

by Garden Maven Peg