SPICED GRAPES
This dish is always reminiscent, to me, of low New England farmhouses, with green blinds. You know the kind—set far back from the road, among tall trees, with hollyhocks, and rose geraniums and old fashioned pinks in the garden. When I see such a house—and I can, sometimes, by closing my eyes—I can always smell the pungent scent of spiced grapes, cooking away on an immaculate kitchen range.
This is the rule for making spiced grapes. A rule that most New England families seem to follow.
To seven pounds of grapes there should be added these materials—three pounds of granulated sugar, one cup of vinegar, two tablespoonsful of ground cinnamon, and one tablespoonful of ground cloves.
Weigh the grapes, wash and pulp them. Cook the pulp until the seeds are loosened—then press the mass through a sieve. Cook the skins just as long as you cook the pulps. Put them on the same stove, but in separate kettles. Add the strained pulps to the skins, then vinegar, sugar, and spices. And cook until the mixture thickens.
This, when served with cold meat, changes a commonplace supper of left-overs into a feast.