Remove the grapes from their stalk and wash well. Then put in the juice extractor, or the blender, and collect the juice (or the blended grapes).
If you have used the blender, strain the grapes. You should have 1 litre or 4 cups. Put 1 cup of juice in a bowl and beat the flour in, mixing well until it dissolves and there are no lumps. Then mix in the rest of the juice and pour all of it in a saucepan and put on medium heat.
Stir the mixture all the time with a whisk or a wooden spoon until it boils, thickens into a cream and begins to stick to the sides. Remove the saucepan immediately from the heat and stir in the rosewater.
Empty the mixture into a glass dish, or 4-6 individual bowls and leave to cool. Place in the fridge until cold and serve with grated almonds and epsima.
Louis Papageorghiou
Ingredients:
1 litre (4 cups) grape juice (3 large bunches of grapes approx.)
5 tbsps flour
3 tbsps rosewater
1 cup ground almonds
Epsima for serving
For the rice cream:
150g (3/4 cup) glace rice
500ml (2 cups) milk
65g (5 level tbsps) sugar
1/4 level tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 level tbsp unsalted butter
½ tsp vanilla essence
Epsima: This used to be the poor man’s sweetener. During the Byzantine era – when sugar was rare and very expensive, and honey was also expensive, epsima was served as a sweetener. They would use the syrup of grapes to make sweets which are not very different to the traditional sweets of the present. They would also spread it on their fritters, put it in their pies and also in their drinks, infused with different herbs.
