Recipe no. 675 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 285.
Ingredients
- grapes
- ash
Preparation
- Choose the grapesChoose grapes with hard, dry berries, spaced out, preferring panses to olivettes.
- Prepare the lyeMake a very strong lye with kitchen ash passed through a sieve, boil it for two hours and let it stand for twenty-four hours.
- Clarify the lyePour it off slowly into a basin so as to have it clear and free of ash, then bring it to a boil.
- Dip the grapesDip the bunches one after another in the lye for a minute to see the berries wilt, then dip them in cold water.
- Dry and boxHang in the shade in a dry place, then put into boxes.
Reboul's text
Choose grapes with hard, dry berries, spaced out as much as possible. Olivette grapes may be used, but panses should be preferred.
Make a very strong lye with kitchen ash that you have passed through a sieve; boil it for two hours and let it stand for twenty-four hours. Pour it off slowly into a basin so as to have it clear and free of ash, and bring it to a boil.
To judge whether the lye is ready, dip a bunch of grapes into it; if the berries wilt at once, you may continue the operation, dipping your bunches one after another; they must be left in the lye for a minute, then dipped in cold water to remove the smell of the ashes, and hung in the shade in a dry place to dry. You will then put them into boxes.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul himself gives certain Provençal names in this recipe: panses. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the other words used, in mistralian spelling: each of these forms is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary, and the link opens the entry. Our dictionary does not yet attest the word panses: we therefore quote it as the author printed it, without adding a form of our own.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| rasin | grapes |
| bugado | lye |
| cèndre | ash |
| sedas | sieve |
| aigo | cold water |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 675, page 285. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.