How to prepare grape leaves for dolma

Preparing fresh leaves in a bottle

Kitchen appliances and utensils: hob and saucepan.

Ingredients

Now I will share with you which grape leaves are suitable for dolma:

• To prepare the preparations, it is better to use freshly picked leaves. It is advisable to harvest in mid-summer, when they are young, soft and tender.
• For preservation, choose larger leaves.
• They must be free of damage, rot and dark spots.

Step by step recipe

1. Wash, remove the stems and divide 60 grape leaves into three piles of 20, placing them from largest to smallest. So the bottom largest one will hold the entire pack.

   

2. Pour three liters of water into a deep saucepan. Bring it to a boil, but do not let it boil.

   

3. Place one pack into the water so that the large ones are at the bottom.

   

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4. “Bathe” them in water until the color of each changes.
   Do not let the water boil. Our task is to pour boiling water over the dolma preparations, but not to cook them.

   

5. Remove from water and place in a rimmed dish. Let the water drain.

   

6. Repeat these manipulations with each stack of blanks.

   

7. Straighten the leaves and place them in a plastic bag.

   

8. Release all the air from the bag and close it so that they do not bend.

   

9. Stack the packages on top of each other in this order:

• The first package is tails up.

• The second package is tails down.

• The third package is tails up.

Place in the freezer when cool. You can store it for one or two seasons.

I invite you to watch a short video that describes in detail how to prepare grape leaves for dolma. You will be able to see what they will become after being in the water, and how to put them in a bag correctly.

There are a lot of ways to preserve grape leaves, and every housewife uses the one that is most suitable for her. This way they are well preserved in canned form. When you open a jar of such preparations in winter, the room is filled with the fresh, summer aroma of grapes.

This is the simplest method of preserving grape leaves for dolma. Of course, before the leaves are sent for storage, they must be thoroughly washed and dried. You also need to prepare containers for storage. The inside of the plastic bottle should be thoroughly washed with a water solution of baking soda. Then the container must be rinsed with clean water and dried.

Now you can proceed directly to preparing the main ingredient of dolma for the winter. To do this, you need to fold the leaves in packs of 5-6 pieces and roll each of them into a tube. To prevent the leaves from unfolding, each tube should be tied with a thread. It is worth making sure that the diameter of the tubes does not exceed the diameter of the neck of the bottle, otherwise they simply will not fit there.

The prepared leaf rolls should be placed tightly in the bottle. To make this easier, it is best to prepare a thin stick in advance.

When the bottle is completely filled, screw the cap on it, but not completely. After this, pressing on the sides of the container, you should squeeze out as much air as possible from it, after which the lid should be tightened thoroughly. You can store them in this form even at room temperature, but it is better to put them in a cooler place, even if the temperature is above zero. The shelf life, if everything is done correctly, is up to 2 years.

One bad thing: you have to get the leaves out of the bottle by cutting it. So it is best to use small containers.

Ingredients

How to prepare grape leaves for the winter for dolma according to a step-by-step recipe with photos

Dolma is a rather unusual dish for our latitudes, with a unique taste and amazing aroma, very reminiscent of our native cabbage rolls. The only difference is that grape leaves, rather than cabbage leaves, are used to wrap the filling. The product has already won many hearts, because it is relatively easy to prepare.

I suggest you learn how to prepare grape leaves for the winter so that you can prepare delicious Moldovan cabbage rolls at any time. In fact, the process of canning, as well as freezing, does not take much time, but as a result you get a complete preparation for experimenting with the filling.

Which grape leaves are suitable for dolma

• The optimal period for collecting grape leaves is the time when the vine begins to flower.
• It is recommended to use leaves of white grape varieties for preservation , since they differ favorably from others in their sweet and sour taste, which will positively affect the taste properties of dolma, giving the dish a wonderful piquancy. If you decide to use red grape leaves for harvesting for the winter, remember that their disadvantage is their uneven surface and hardness.
• Only young leaves are suitable for dolma , and it is important to cut them from the vine, which is located as far as possible from the roadway.
• Never use damaged or torn grape leaves for preservation . Take only smooth, whole leaves, preferably the same size.

How to preserve grape leaves for dolma

Kitchenware

• First of all, you need to prepare the scissors;
• to cook the brine you will need a large, voluminous pan;
• also, nothing will work without lids for jars;

• Of course, we cannot do without 0.5 liter glass jars, but larger capacity jars can be used.

List of required ingredients

Canning grape leaves in stages

Preparing the leaves

1. First of all, we get rid of the thick stems of grape leaves using scissors.

   

2. Now we thoroughly wash each leaf on both sides with plenty of running water, being careful not to tear the ingredient.

   

3. We put the clean young leaves aside and leave them for a while to drain off excess water and dry them out a little.

   

Preparing the brine

1. Fill a large saucepan with cold water and add salt to it in the proportion of 20 g of salt per 1 liter of water.

   

2. Then put the pan on the fire and bring the water to a boil, stirring the brine from time to time so that the salt is completely dissolved.

   

3. Then let the brine sit and cool slightly.

Laying grape leaves

1. We lay out young grape leaves in piles of ten pieces on top of each other.

   

2. Then we wrap each batch of leaves in a tube.

   

3. Afterwards, we place the rolls of grape leaves tightly and tightly into the jar.

   

The final stage

1. Now carefully fill the jars with warm brine so that it fills all the voids between the tube leaves.

   

2. Afterwards, leave the jars alone for about five minutes and, if necessary, add brine to the very neck of the jar.
3. Then we roll up the jars with lids and allow the brine to cool to room temperature.
4. Next, we lower the resulting blanks into the cellar or place them on a darkened shelf.

   

Video recipe for preparing canned grape leaves for dolma

In order to better understand how to properly prepare and pickle grape leaves for dolma for the winter, I recommend spending three minutes familiarizing yourself with the selected video material, which is presented below.

Tips and tricks

• When preparing the brine, you can add a few peas of allspice to the liquid - this will significantly improve the taste and aroma of your future dish.
• The number of leaves in the tube can be changed in any direction; if your leaves are too thin, you can make a stack of 15-20 pieces.
• It is not at all necessary to roll up the jars with leaves with iron lids; you can simply close them tightly with rubber or plastic ones. However, by using iron lids, you don’t have to worry about air getting into the jar and the products spoiling.
• To make jars of brine cool faster, place them in the refrigerator for half an hour.

How to freeze and store grape leaves for dolma

• Cooking time: approximately 35-50 minutes.
• Number of blanks: 3 blanks of 20 leaves.

Kitchenware

• Be sure to have regular scissors ready, but you can get by with a knife;
• a large saucepan is necessary for boiling leaves;

• A slotted spoon is very useful for conveniently boiling leaves in water;
• three plastic bags are needed to freeze our dolma preparation.

List of required ingredients

The process of freezing grape leaves in stages

Preparing grape leaves

1. First, remove the stems from the grape leaves using scissors. Then we thoroughly wash each leaf under running water.

   

2. After that, dry the ingredients a little and put them in three piles of twenty pieces each.

   

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3. Place a pan of water on the stove and bring the liquid to a gentle boil.

   

4. Take the first stack of leaves and carefully lower them into boiling water and keep them in the pan for about a minute.

   

5. When the leaves change color, remove them from the water using a slotted spoon and place them on a plate to drain excess water.

   

6. Boil the remaining two stacks of grape leaves in the same way.

   

Packing grape leaves

1. Carefully place a stack of still hot leaves into a plastic bag.

   

2. Then carefully close the bag, while trying to get as little air into it as possible.

   

3. After this, we bend the ends of the bag so as not to damage the edges of the grape leaves.

   

4. We put the first batch aside and pack the second and third piles in the same way.

   

5. Next, stack the bags on top of each other and put them in the freezer.

   

What to do with frozen leaves

1. You can store grape leaves in the freezer for up to a year.
2. To prepare dolma, frozen leaves need to be doused with boiling water or left to defrost in a warm place.

Video recipe for preparing grape leaves for dolma

The video material presented below will tell you in detail about all sorts of nuances and subtleties of the correct preparation of grape leaves for dolma.

Tips and tricks

• Place grape leaves in a stack in increasing order: it is better to make the bottom leaf the largest in size.
• You can freeze grape leaves fresh, but in this case there is a high probability that they may tear when defrosted and become unsuitable for preparing dolma.
• Do not under any circumstances sort through a stack of already boiled leaves , their structure is very delicate and they may tear.
• In order for the leaves to take up less space in the refrigerator, they can be rolled into a roll and then wrapped in a plastic bag.

Cooking and filling options

If you have already learned how to make preparations for the winter from grape leaves, then be sure to look at the recipe for dolma in grape leaves. Why not please your family and friends on a cold winter evening with such a fragrant and amazingly tasty dish? I also can’t help but tell you about a very simple way to cook dolma in a slow cooker. Almost nothing is required from you, just wrap the filling, and the kitchen equipment will do all the main work.

Video recipe “Grape leaves for the winter”

The methods described above for preparing grape leaves for dolma are the most accessible and widespread. If your soul requires something more exotic, then you can try preparing this product using... tomato juice. To do this, you will need the leaves themselves, tomato juice and a head of regular onion.

The preservation process begins with soaking the leaves. They should be filled with cold water and left for about an hour. Then fold the leaves into piles of 12-15 pieces and roll them into rolls. The prepared leaves are placed in a jar. The rolls should be laid as tightly as possible, but not to the very top.

At this time, you can start preparing the fill. To do this, pour tomato juice into a saucepan, add salt to taste, throw in a whole onion and boil. The onion can then be thrown away. It won't be useful anymore. Pour hot tomato juice into jars, after pouring the water out of them. All that remains is to roll up the lids on the jars, wrap them in a warm blanket and leave them completely alone for a couple of days.

There are other ways to preserve grape leaves for dolma for the winter. A very popular method is salting, both standard and dry. There are also very exotic options, for example: pickling leaves along with cucumbers. In this case, each cucumber is wrapped in a separate leaf.

Preparing grape leaves for dolma for the winter

Preserving grape leaves for dolma for the winter is not a difficult task, but not every skilled housewife knows about this possibility. But many people would like to please their family with a delicious oriental dish on one of the long winter evenings. Dolma - a mixture of rice, minced meat and spicy herbs, wrapped in a delicate grape leaf, will delight even a sophisticated gourmet. And if there are no problems with the filling in winter, then the leaves should be prepared in advance.

Dolma is a mixture of meat, rice and herbs, wrapped in a grape leaf.

Interesting: Is it possible to store preparations for the winter at room temperature?

How to store and when to use

The jars, covered with metal lids, are placed in a warm place and wrapped in a blanket. After the jars have cooled, they are moved to the refrigerator, where they should remain until used. A cellar can be a replacement for a refrigerator.

You can use grape leaves for their intended purpose after 2-3 weeks; this time is enough for the brine to infuse and the pickles to acquire a pleasant taste and aroma.

Oriental cabbage rolls, minced meat wrapped in grape leaves, or simply dolma can be safely classified as seasonal dishes. Not only do grapes not grow everywhere, but also the leaves on them do not “live” all year round. However, this does not mean at all that you will have to give up dolma in winter. Fortunately, grape leaves can be preserved and enjoyed in a wonderful oriental dish until next summer.

Wet salting of grape leaves in jars

Compound:

• grape leaves - how many will go into the jar;
• water - how much will it take;
• salt – 20 g per 1 liter of water.

Cooking method:

• Prepare the grape leaves, roll them into tubes, folding them in 10 pieces.
• Sterilize the jar and boil the plastic lid.
• Place tubes of grape leaves vertically into a jar.
• Boil water and pour into a jar.
• After 10 minutes, drain the boiling water from the jar. Pour boiling water into it again.
• Drain the water from the jar into the pan after 10 minutes, measure the volume of water, add the required amount of salt.
• Boil the brine for a minute and pour it over the grape leaves.
• Close the jar with a lid.

As soon as the jar has cooled, it must be put in the refrigerator and stored there.

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

Step by step recipe

1. Clear 90 pcs. grape leaves from debris, trim the tails.

   

2. Fold in packs of 10 pieces and wrap with a tube. Wrap along, not across, the fibers to avoid breaking.

   

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3. Tie the tubes with thread and place in a liter jar. Do this with each pack and fill the jar tightly with them.

   

4. Fill with cold water, slightly higher than the “hangers” of the jar, add 1 tsp. salt. Cover with a lid for preservation.

   

5. 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.

   

6. Roll up the jar, let cool, cover with a blanket and store in a dark place.

   

Let's watch a short video that shows in detail how to preserve grape leaves for dolma.

Cooking time: 40 minutes. Number of servings: 90 leaves. Calories: 93 kcal per 100 g of product. Kitchen appliances and utensils: jar, seaming lid and machine, saucepan and hob.

Ingredients

Step by step recipe

Recipe for pickling grape leaves in a jar

Pickled leaves for dolma will help you prepare delicious Armenian cabbage rolls. This dish has a summer flavor, but only young foliage is needed to prepare it. Such preparations can be stored for quite a long time.

This recipe is simple and will take no more than 25 minutes of your time.

Ingredients:

• grape leaves - 60–70 pcs.;
• vinegar 9% - 40–50 ml;
• salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
• water - 0.5 l.

Attention!

Salt should not be iodized, as it is not suitable for canning.

Step-by-step recipe with photos:

1. Tear light green leaves.
2. Wash them thoroughly, but at the same time carefully so as not to tear them - they are thin and fragile, so it’s easy to damage them.

   

3. After the procedure, place the leaves in a colander to drain the liquid.
4. Place the ingredient in a stack of 10 pieces, remove the cuttings and roll into a tube.
5. Place each piece in a jar and add salt.

   

6. Pour hot liquid into the container up to the shoulders, but there should be some space left in the jar.
7. Place the container in a saucepan and pour water into it almost to the brim, leaving space so that it does not spill out when boiling.

   

8. Place on the stove and boil. Cover the jar with a lid. The leaves should simmer for about 20–25 minutes after boiling. We have to wait for the color to completely change.
9. After the specified time has passed, remove the jar from the water, remove the lid and pour in vinegar.

   

10. Close again and seal with a seaming key.
11. Turn the lid down to make sure it is sealed. Leave to cool and then transfer to a cellar or pantry for storage. The workpiece will last for about 12 months.

Attention!

To protect themselves, some cooks add 1 more aspirin tablet to the jar. But this is not necessary.

Defrosting features

If you want to prepare dolma, carefully remove the bundle of leaves from the freezer. Try not to press it, as the product is fragile and will crumble at the slightest impact. To prevent the frozen “wrapper” from breaking into small pieces without unwinding, pour boiling water over the leafy roll and allow it to absorb the necessary moisture for a few minutes. The product can then be used for its intended purpose.

You will be interested to learn about other ways to prepare leaves for dolma.

You can prepare dolma at any time of the year, thanks to properly prepared raw materials for future use. By following our recommendations, you can easily provide yourself and your loved ones with this opportunity.

How to properly collect grape leaves for dolma

An inexperienced cook can afford to prepare dolma from any grape leaves. Of course, you can eat such “stuffed cabbage rolls,” but you won’t be able to enjoy their real taste. The taste of this dish largely depends on which leaves the meat ingredient is wrapped in. For dolma, it is best to take leaves from white grape varieties. They are softer and not so “curly”. It is the leaves of white grapes that give dolma its unique taste and aroma.

You can collect leaves from the moment the grapes bloom. The main thing is that they have already reached the desired size - approximately the size of an adult’s palm. The collection period continues throughout the summer. Just don’t pick leaves from bushes that have recently been sprayed against diseases or pests. Rinse, don’t rinse, and the poison can get into the human body. Better take care. So, the leaves are collected. Now you can start preparing delicious dolma. And preserve the remaining leaves for the winter.

Cooking options

• To prepare dolma, leaves of figs, quinces and other various trees are used. But with grapes it turns out tastier, because they give the food a pleasant sourness.
• For the filling, you can also use ingredients to suit your taste. Its classic version is minced meat with rice. This dish is also prepared in vegetarian cuisine without using meat. In fact, you can wrap anything, the main thing is that you like it.
• Initially, the filling was chopped lamb, but over time they began to make it from any type of meat and fish.

Since we have made the preparations, I want to share with you my recipe for dolma in grape leaves. It includes products accessible to everyone. Prepare this dish and enjoy the summer taste and aroma. If possible, make dolma in a slow cooker. The whole cooking process will not take you much time, and the dish will turn out very tender and tasty. You can feed the whole family with it or serve it to guests during a feast.

Dear readers, I hope you have used the recipes I suggested on how to store and pickle grape leaves for dolma. Now in winter you will delight your household with delicious food. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, write, I will always be glad to read from you! And now I wish you a good mood and bon appetit!

Since we have made the preparations, I want to share with you my recipe for dolma in grape leaves. It includes products accessible to everyone. Prepare this dish and enjoy the summer taste and aroma. If possible, make dolma in a slow cooker. The whole cooking process will not take you much time, and the dish will turn out very tender and tasty. You can feed the whole family with it or serve it to guests during a feast.

Frozen grape leaves for dolma

It is no less easy to preserve grape leaves for “winter” dolma by freezing them. To do this, the leaves also need to be washed and dried. In this case, the petioles can be cut off. They are not needed in dolma, and in other methods of preparation their function is only to simplify the removal of leaves from the container.

Place the prepared leaf blades in piles of 12-15 pieces. and roll it into a roll. Wrap each roll in cling film and put it in a regular packaging bag and put it in the freezer. To save space, you can put the rolls in a plastic container. This is not important.

Before preparing dolma, leaves preserved in this way must be thawed at room temperature and then scalded with boiling water. This process will restore the product’s proper taste, aroma and even basic beneficial properties.

How to properly store grape leaves

In order to store grape leaves for dolma, they need to be either frozen, kept fresh, or pickled.

In any case, before performing any actions with grape leaves, they must be thoroughly washed, poured with boiling water, and then dried thoroughly so that no traces of moisture remain on the leaves.

In order to store grape leaves by freezing, you need to fold 8-10 leaves into a neat bunch and roll them into a roll. Then the roll is tightly wrapped in cling film. It is necessary to twist the roll so that the sheet is hermetically sealed. After this, the rolls are carefully placed in the freezer. Once the sheet is completely frozen, it should be stored in a separate compartment of the freezer, as the sheet is very fragile when frozen.

In order to store fresh grape leaves for dolma, you need to collect ten leaves in a pack, and then roll each pack into a tight roll. In this form they are placed in a liter jar or plastic bottle. If the roll is placed in a glass jar, then it must be sealed and sterilized for 20 minutes. Cooled jars can be placed in a dry, dark place.

If you try to put a roll of grape leaves into a plastic bottle, then close it with a lid and leave it standing in the dark. But in this case, after two or three days you need to carefully open the lid to allow carbon dioxide to escape.

There is another way to store grape leaves for dolma. To do this, the grape leaf is pickled. Just as in the case of other methods of storing grape leaves, they need to be washed, doused with boiling water and the leaves, which have become soft, rolled into tight rolls. For the marinade, take salt and a few peas of allspice.

Interesting: How long can you store food in a thermos?

The leaves are poured with marinade and twisted.

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There is another way to store grape leaves for dolma. To do this, the grape leaf is pickled. Just as in the case of other methods of storing grape leaves, they need to be washed, doused with boiling water and the leaves, which have become soft, rolled into tight rolls. For the marinade, take salt and a few peas of allspice.

Grape leaves for dolma prepared for the winter

It requires pickled or salted leaves

Azerbaijani-style dolma also differs from previous recipes in that it only requires dill and – attention! – mint. The ratio of other products is the same

The preparation of the filling is similar, the only difference is that it needs to be slightly under-salted, since the leaves are pickled and already contain some salt. You need to strain the marinade from the leaves, keep them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then dry them. A little vegetable oil is poured into the cauldron, several leaves are laid out as a bedding, and dolma is placed on top of them.

It does not require any special ingredients: just take two onions, 100 g of rice, two cloves of garlic, herbs (onion, cilantro, basil, dill) for half a kilo of minced meat (if you don’t have them, hops-suneli will do) , salt and as many grape leaves as needed. The rice is cooked like cabbage rolls - until half cooked.

The leaves are doused with boiling water. The onions are finely chopped and the herbs are chopped. All ingredients are mixed: minced meat, herbs, rice, onions. The bottom of the pan is lined with the same leaves. The envelopes are folded in the manner described above and placed tightly in the container. Everything is filled with water, in which garlic cloves are placed, and a weight is placed on top - you can just have a plate on which a jar of water is placed.

Pickled grape leaves for dolma

If desired, grape leaves for dolma can be preserved for the winter in a marinade. To do this, prepared leaf plates, as well as for freezing, need to be folded in packs of 12-15 pieces. and roll into rolls. Then place the rolls in sterilized jars and pour boiling water over them. After 10 minutes, drain the cooling water and fill the containers with fresh boiling water.

While the leaves are taking a hot bath, prepare the marinade. Dissolve sugar and salt in water, then bring the solution to a boil, pour 9% vinegar into it and remove from heat. For 1 liter of water you will need a tablespoon of sugar and salt, as well as 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

You need to drain the cooling water from the jars again and pour hot marinade in its place. Canned food should be sealed immediately and allowed to cool. You can store grape leaves for dolma in the marinade at normal room temperature.

Freezing grape leaves

Almost all vegetables and fruits lend themselves well to freezing. This method requires a good freezer. For those who want to learn how to freeze grape leaves for dolma, simple steps are provided below.

Freezing steps:

1. Cut leaves without cuttings. Wipe the surface with a damp cloth.

   

2. Fold 10 pieces of sheets one by one and roll tightly into a tube shape. To prevent the form from falling apart, it must be secured with cling film, wrapping the leaves. Place in a cellophane bag and place in the freezer.

   

3. Before cooking, rinse the finished frozen leaves with hot water and start cooking.

Before freezing, the leaves should not be washed, as the remaining drops will turn into ice and disrupt the storage process.

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Description

Pickled grape leaves are used in the preparation of an oriental dish called “dolma”. In this recipe you will learn how to properly pickle grape leaves at home.

First of all, it’s worth figuring out which grapes are best to use for pickling. Ideal in our case would be the leaves of white grapes. Of course, you need to select clean young leaves with a glossy surface and without voluminous veins.

The preparation process is no less important, so do not neglect the instructions. Our step-by-step recipe for making pickled grape leaves with photos is presented below. From it you will learn all the subtleties and secrets of cooking.

Grape leaves have many beneficial properties. They are often used in Eastern medicine to treat heart and kidney diseases. Decoctions of such leaves help with stomach problems and nausea. In addition to medicinal properties, grape leaves, especially pickled ones, have valuable taste qualities, due to which they are used in cooking.

Let's start cooking.

How to dry preserve grape leaves

With the onset of warm days, we need to prepare for a period of conservation. This is an ideal time for lovers of Armenian cabbage rolls - dolma, as young leaves appear on the grapes. This dish is both tasty and healthy, because the preparation contains many useful microelements. The ideal option for harvesting is freshly picked leaves. But with the help of preservation you can preserve their freshness for a longer period.