Day 181 - Concord Gin Fizzy

I love Concord grapes this time of the year. In and around New York state you can find them in proliferation, as we are one of the biggest producers of this grape in the northeast. (BTW they only grow in NY and New England... never knew that till a few months ago.)


Growing up, my grandfather had a walkway to his backyard Garden of Eden with a rich Concord grape vine draping overhead. I loved these grapes. And because of how I ate them, I fondly referred to them as 'sucky grapes'. Why? Becasue I put the stem end just onto my lips, squeezed the grape and sucked the insides out. I never ate the skins. So now even my boys call them sucky grapes : )

Being at The Culinary Institute of America we learn a lot about maximizing the use of all of your food products. Trim and scraps can always be used somehow. So I'm always thinking of way to utilize what's left of the fruits and vegetables I serve at home. This is what I came up with for the discarded though flavor packed Concord grape skins. (Just a hint... only make this for yourself. You'll see why.)

Concord Gin Fizzy

• One bottle of Ginger Ale (I use diet)
• 1 8oz drinking glass
• 1/2 cup of Concord Grapes
• a few ice cubes

Eat your grapes first, but reserve the skins. Drop them right into the glass. Put a few ice cubes on top of the grape skins. Pour your ginger ale to cover. To feel extra fancy, you could shake it if you have a drink shaker, it would probably aerate the pop* and the skins really well and infuse more flavor. You can strain it if you like, but I leave mine in.

This may be on the verge of weird. I'm ok with that, 'cause this was delish! The ginger and grape mix very well together. This would probably work well with a clear pop*, too.

*pop = soda where I hail from. Representing Buffalo where we call it pop... and a few other mid-west regions that use the proper terminology : )