boiling your own grape leaves

Ah... growing your own grape leaves makes all the difference!

Most recipes for preparing grape leaves for consumption have the following characteristics:

1) Pick only the young leaves in late May or early June (however, this depends entirely on the variety and the time of the year they begin to grow)

2) Bundle in groups of 10 or 20 with the stems at one end and fold once or twice and tie with string

3) boil in salt water ( I throw in some lemon)

4) pack tightly in jars and pour hot salt water over them

Personally, my leaves seldom last very long so I save them flat in my fridge and use as needed!

Here is my recipe for Greek Dolmades!

Bon appetite!

Roger