Geo worked on the tractor curtain and sidearm
Geo's tasks took him outside today. Tractor maintenance is key before the first accumulating snow. I put the sidearm for our external cell antenna on the curtain he repaired today (see above pic). He climbed the tower next to the house to mount the sidearm on the cell antenna. It makes me nervous when Geo climbs towers!!!!
My day was mostly indoors finishing work on making grape-must syrup called Sapa or Saba according to the recipe I have. In greek it's called μούστος, pronounced MOO-stohs. Moustos is made using the juice squeezed from fresh grapes.
According to a site see
link, the ancient Greeks of Calabria made this syrup as a sweetener. Further research on
wikipedia seems to substantiate this, as ancient Greeks did in fact settle there.
Here's what you will need to make Grape-Must Syrup:
About 2.5 lbs of Concord Grapes
I was inspired to create this grape-must syrup of many names ie: Saba, Sapa, moustos, etc. because I found a recipe for duck breasts with grapes and it called for this ingredient. Sure I could order it online from a gourmet store but, really, why not save a few dollars and learn something in the process? Being an aspiring localvore --sourcing my food close to home is important to me.
After washing put a few handfuls in the food processor.
The idea is to puree them skins and all until they are well chopped. I found that putting the grapes in by a few handfuls made the processing easier.
Store in a glass or stainless bowl for 48 hours.
When you are finished processing your mixture should look something like this picture above. Don't worry about skins or seeds. This is the most relaxing part of making the syrup as you can take a break from it for two days. Then take the bowl out of the fridge and:
Pour the mixture into a fine mesh sieve over a saucepan.
This is where you will employ lots of elbow grease. It's a good upper arm work out. Using a spatula or wooden spoon push grape mixture through strainer. Do this many many times scraping the bottom of the strainer also until your mixture looks like this.
The Ancient Greeks of Calabria were strong!
Now put the saucepan of extracted grape must on the stove and bring to a boil. After boiling reduce heat to low and skim the top as needed. If you want to make vinno cotto you would add wine at this stage. I chose to make mine without wine.
Reduce the liquid by 2/3rds
By the time it has spent hours reducing over very low heat, you should have a syrup consistency that will coat the back of a spoon--think maple syrup here. When you are finished pour into a glass container--I used an empty balsamic vinegar bottle.
Yay- It's done!!!
The good news is it can be stored up to one year in a cool place such as your refrigerator and it tastes delicious. I'm looking forward to using it in the sauce for my upcoming duck breast recipe. The best part is that you too can share in eating something very ancient:) We now have something in common with ancient Greeks and modern day Calabrians.
