Shhhh! Don't tell the raccoons...

... but the Candice grapes are ripening!  They don't ripen all at once, so I'm picking about every other day.  What gets picked goes straight into the dehydrator.

I set the dehydrator for 135F and start with 24 hours.  It usually takes longer - about 36 hours - but this way I'm keeping an eye on the grapes.  I dry them until they're really dry - and pretty hard as well.  I'd rather err on the side of caution than find out I haven't done them enough and they start to get mouldy.

When it's time to use them, I sometimes soak them in a small amount of hot water.  The water goes into the baking as well.  Candice grapes are small, pinkish and seedless.  They dry fairly quickly and I don't have to pierce them as you do with larger grapes.  When dehydrated, they have a tart grapey taste.

We have two other grapevines up in the garden growing against the fence; a purple and a green.  Because they've had competition from the cedars, the soil is quite acid and fairly dry as the cedars are greedy when it comes to water.  I've limed the soil for the last couple of years and this year, we finally have some purple grapes.  I've long since forgotten the varieties, but the purple ones are sweet and tasty.  Perhaps I'll give them some water next year even though grapes don't need all that much and I'll be sure to lime the soil again.

There are still lots of bunches on the Candice vine and I'll monitor them every day, picking the ripest bunches.  This will only be the third time I've beaten the raccoons.  It would sure be nice to get the whole crop, but I won't bank on it.  In the meantime, I'm very grateful for what I do get!