Roasted Grape and Rosemary Cocktail

I’ve always considered grapes to be a fall food. Maybe it’s their deep purple color, or that I was always used to concord grapes growing up. Those are a fall fruit, but table grapes are harvested in the summer here. As in right about now. 

That’s one of the cool things that one gets to witness here in the Valley. Harvest of just about everything is an incredible operation to observe. 

So I bought a few crisp, sweet red and purple grapes, which are really purple and almost black. Beautiful. 

They are, of course, good fresh, but they are also excellent roasted. A half hour in the oven and they become even sweeter with caramelized notes. So if you can stand heating up the oven in the summer, roasted grapes are the way to go. 

They go well in desserts, on pizzas, and in cocktails…

Muddled together with a strong herb and served with a flavorless spirit like vodka, it creates a cocktail with just the right amount of sweetness, but no added sugar or syrup. 

You only need about a dozen grapes for this cocktail, but go ahead and roast the whole bunch. You’ll want them for snacks. Or more cocktails.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the grapes on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, until the grapes begin to brown and shrivel a bit. Let cool before using in the cocktail. 

What you’ll need:

12 roasted seedless grapes
5 to 6 leaves of rosemary
1.5 ounces vodka
Ice
Club soda
Roasted grapes for garnish

How to make it:

Place the grapes to a cocktail shaker and add the rosemary. Muddle the grapes with the herb to smash them and extract the juice. 

Add the vodka and a handful of ice. Shake until well chilled. 

Fill a short cocktail glass with ice. Strain in the cocktail. Add club soda to fill the glass and garnish with grapes.