If you want to delight loved ones with delicious and fragrant dolma all year round, and not only at the beginning of summer, then you should prepare grape leaves for future use. There are several ways to harvest grape leaves and each is good in its own way.
Leaves for storage are harvested before the grapes begin to bloom. It is at this time that the leaves are most juicy and soft. Their taste largely depends on the grape variety, for example, red grape varieties have a harder foliage, while white grape varieties have juicy and delicate leaves.
Salted grape leaves
To make a harvest in this way, you need to collect young grape leaves and rinse thoroughly. Put clean leaves in a bowl for salting, put a load on top and fill with brine (4 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water). Before preparing dolma, salted grape leaves should be soaked in cold water for about 3-5 hours.
Frozen grape leaves
Wash and dry the young grape leaves, then divide into portions and place in plastic bags. Release the air from the bags, roll them up and put them in the freezer. It is better to defrost grape leaves in cold water, and after defrosting, pour boiling water over them and let stand for about 2-3 minutes.
Pickled grape leaves
Pickled grape leaves are often used to make dolma. Young leaves are collected, hard legs are removed, washed and placed in 0.5 liter jars. After that, the leaves need to be doused with boiling water twice, each time draining the water from them. The third time, the grape leaves must be poured with marinade. To prepare the marinade, you need to take 2 tablespoons. table vinegar and 1 tbsp. salt and sugar per 1 liter of water.
