Homemade "Rasins"

My very first blog entry! These little "raisins" were something I tried making but almost turned out to be a disaster. My husband and I called them "sour skins" rather than raisins. But, none the less, they are good.

I had been planning on using the food dehydrator for a while...and I finally did. I was so excited to make these but when I realized that they did not look at all like raisins I knew I had done something wrong. How do you go wrong with homemade raisins? Well, somehow I managed to do it! But, I did not give up yet, after tasting them I thought they might be good with cereal.

I went to our stash of cereals and decided to try it with some Honey Nut Cheerios. Success! These were great in the Cheerios. It was a sour sweet taste, which I do like (but others may not.)

Real Raisins

Ingredients

green or red seedless grapes (how much depends on how many raisins you want)

Directions

Wash grapes under warm water, take the stems off and discard any bad grapes. Meanwhile, in a sauce pan that is big enough to hold the grapes in, fill with water and bring the water to a rapid boil. Place the grapes into the boiling water for 1-2 minutes (this process is called blanching, it softens the skin of the grape.) Take them out and immediately run cold water over them then place on a paper towel to dry. Set the food-dehydrator thermostat to 140 degrees. If your dehydrator does not have a thermostat (like mine) the process takes more time.

Put the grapes in your dehydrator, leaving space between each grape (try not to over fill it.) Leave them in the dehydrator for 2 hours, after 2 hours lower the temperature to 100 degrees. Leave them for about 12-15 hours. Check the grapes occasionally, they are considered "raisins" once their skin is tough and all moisture is gone from the center of them.

You can store these in a cool dry place, in a air tight container.

If you like more plump raisins for baking then rehydrate by soaking them in hot water for about 20-30 minutes before adding to a recipe. (Save the water and use it in your recipe, if it calls for water. It'll add extra flavor!)

Sour Skins
My version of "raisins" 

Do everything the same in the Real Raisins recipe, but after you place the grapes into the boiling water and run them under cold water, cut them in half (yep each one) lengthwise. Then let them dry on paper towels and proceed as normal.

The reason why I cut them in half is because they were so big that they did not fit in my dehydrator (in between the trays) and I thought that if I cut them they would be fine but they shrank up to what I call "sour skins."