Linda Ziedrich has a recipe in the Joy of Pickling. She recommends early summer for picking the tender leaves. I can type that recipe out later if you are interested.

You can use grape leaves anytime of the year that they are putting out new vines/tendrils, which usually ends at the end of summer. Pick the third and fourth from the tips which are tender and the right size for rolling. Smaller ones are too small and don't have much flavor, larger older ones are chewy tough even when pickled.

Definitely use Linda Ziedrich's recipe for safe canning. You can also wash, pat dry, and freeze them in gallon Ziplock bags (scattered flat not stacked so they defrost quicker).
Nancy

You just pickle them like cucumbers. I would use a 50/50 w/v with 1 TBS salt per 2 cups of solution. Grape lives are quite acidic.

I've added Joy of Pickling to my wishlist, thank you. And those are helpful harvesting tips, nancedar.

Uh ohhhh. I read somewhere all you need is a real strong brine, 1 cup of pickling salt in a gallon of water, blanch and roll the leaves and pack the jars, pour over the hot brine. Lid up and refrigerate. I've kept them like this for a year. Am I risking some horrible disease? The ones I've bought just list a salt and water brine, not a pickling liquid.

Steve

Here's the recipe from the Joy of Pickling:

Preserved Grape Leaves

Makes 1 pint

2 teaspoons pickling salt
1 quart water
About 30 grape leaves, stemmed
1 cup water plus 1/4 cup lemon juice
-Or-
1-1/4 cups water plus 1/2 teaspoon citric acid

Bring salt and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the leaves and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain.

Stack leaves in piles of 6 and roll loosely from the side (not the stem end or tip). Pack rolls into a pint jar, folding over the ends if necessary.

In a small non-reactive saucepan, bring to a boil 1 cup of water and the lemon juice, or the 1-1/4 cups water and the citric acid. Pour the hot liquid over the rolled leaves, leaving 1/2" of headspace. Close the jar with two piece lids and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Can also be covered with a non-reactive cap and stored in the refrigerator.

Edited to correct the name of the recipe - it's "Preserved" not "Pickled".

This post was edited by malna on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 15:25

Steve - your leaves are fermented rather than pickled. The safety with them comes from the lactic acid created by fermentation. As long as you keep any scum that forms skimmed off they are fine. Once they are fully fermented - the 1 cup/1 gallon is plenty of salt - then you can add the lemon juice or citric acid if you want to can them or just keep them in the fridge but a year may be pushing the limit on quality.

Dave