🥃 Raisin

A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are made when berries are dried in the sun or in special dryers. Water leaves the berries, sugar stays, and the fruit becomes wrinkled, dark or golden, and very sweet.

Different varieties are used for raisins. Seedless ones suit best, for example Kishmish White and Kishmish Black, Centennial Seedless, Flame Seedless and Ruby Seedless, as well as Black Corinth and Corinto Nero, which make the small raisins known as currants. There are also large varieties such as Angur Kalan. Raisins are eaten on their own and added to baking, porridge and confectionery.

Raisins count as grape products. Wine is also made from dried berries: from Spanish Pedro Ximénez to Italian wines from dried grapes. This links to straw wine, where grapes are dried before pressing. Raisins are one of the oldest ways to keep a grape harvest for later. They keep for a long time in a dry place and do not spoil for years.