Our first edible wild plant: MN Riverbank Grape and Jilla's Canned Wild Grape Leaves Recipe

Friday,  June 6, 2014

Charlie and I harvested our first edible wild plant today! He is way too pumped.

 The plant of the week was our very own Minnesota wild grape. Spring time means the grape leaves are tender, ready to harvest and to be prepared to later turn into stuffed grape leaves! Look in shady spots for the perfectly tender ones. The sun make the leaves form a rough skin that do not make them good candidates.

First, one must be able to distinguish whether or not the vine is an edible grape variety. Around the Twin Cities, these are the most commonly found:

Edible: Riverbank Grape  

NOT Edible: Moonseed Grape

NOT Edible: Virginia Creeper Grape

Jilla's Canned Wild Grape Leaves Recipe

Grocery bag of leaves will yield 2 medium sized canning jars. 

Step 1: Rinse your leaves twice to ensure all the dirty is gone 

Step 2: Prepare each jar with a juice of whole lemon and water. Fill to about 1/2 inch from the top of jar. For variety add ginger with whole pepper grounds or Thai Chili Pepper.

Step 3: Once leaves are clean, take 6 leaves, stack in order of size (smallest in the middle and build out) and roll into a bunch. Using twine, tie the roll gently.

Step 4: Boil two pots of water. Bring to a boil. Blanche leaves for one minute. Quickly place in ice water to cool the temperature of leaves. Place in jars. And place in second pot. Allow the jars to sit in boiling water for 20 minutes to set jars. Remove and allow to cool. Lids will "pop" once they are completely set. 

** WARNING: Always consult an expert or identification book written by an expert when eating wild plants. Do not eat any wild edible plant unless you are 100% certain of its identification