Ab Ghooreh Recipe
Ab Ghooreh (آبغوره) or Persian sour Grape juice is a kind of acidic fruit juice. It is the fruit juice of Ghooreh. Ghooreh is the unripe grape when it has a sour taste, and its taste would not change sweet. Its translation is verjuice in English. We can make sour Grape juice by squeezing a bunch of Ghoore or grab. Ab Ghooreh or verjuice is well-know all over the world, and every chef uses it along with a win and other kinds of vinegar to flavour their foods and meals all through Western Europe and the American South. Ab Ghooreh`s translation in Arabic is Husroum (حصرم). They are one of the leading producers of Ab Ghooreh, verjuice, or Husroum as well as olive oil.
Ab Ghooreh would have an essential role in Persian cuisine. We usually use Persian sour Grape juice for flavouring various meals such as sauces, stews (Khoresht like carrot Khoresht, Kadu Khoresht and so on), Ashe- Ab Ghooreh, and famous Persian salad (Shirazi Salad). Also, we can use Ab Ghooreh for preparing Persian pickle (Torshi). We also can use it as a substitute for high-fat salad dressing.
We use Ab Ghooreh because of its unique, durable, and pleasant sour taste. Furthermore using Ab Ghooreh in preparing foods helps our body to digest fatty foods easier.
Different types of Ab Ghooreh:
There is only a single type of Ab Ghooreh. But you can make it a bite sourer if you want. So you can add some salt when you are making sour Grape juice. But I should tell you that you can use and season with unripe grapes in different shapes such as Ghooreh powder, Ghooreh paste, and Ghooreh pickle. If I want to explain a little bit about them, I should say as follows.
If you want to make Ghooreh powder, you need to wash them thoroughly. Then you should spread them on a significant clean cloth and let them dry completely. It is imperative that they dry thoroughly and no moisture. After that, you have to grind them. Your Ghooreh powder is ready. Now you just pour it to a container and close its lid. You can add some salt to it for better storage. Take notice that you should keep it in a dry place.
To make Ghooreh paste, after washing unripe grapes, you should pour them in a pot and add some salt to it. Then you should put the pan on a low flame and let it cook and get soft completely. After that, you should pass them through the filter and separate grape`s juice from its pulp. It needs to thicken a little more. So you should boil it for some more minutes. Take notice that you have to keep stirring it thoroughly to stop it sticking and burning. Finely you need to keep it in a closed container and the refrigerator.
To make picked Ghooreh, you need to make a solution of sulphate of copper and salt for stabilizing the green colour. To make this solution, you just need ½ teaspoon of sulphate of copper, three tablespoons of salt, and 1 litre of water. First, you should mix them and make the solution and pour the sour grapes in it. Then you have to keep the grapes in that solution for 24 hours. After 24 hours, you should drain the solution away and wash the grapes with cold water several times. Then you should dry the grapes completely. In the end, you should place the grapes into a container and add 1 litre of verjuice (Ab Ghooreh, three tablespoons of salt, and some sliced garlic and mix them well. Your pickle is ready. Just Don’t forget to keep it in a cool and dry place.
Important Nutrition facts of Ab Ghooreh:
Ab Ghooreh or verjuice, especially natural and fresh type, is rich in a variety of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin c and sodium. Ab Ghooreh includes some properties that make the body to digest fatty food easily. Each tablespoon of Ab Ghooreh is almost 15 ml which contains 3 kcal of energy, and 0.65 g of sugar. It is nearly wholly fat-free.
Ab Ghooreh also contains organic acids such as formic acid, oxalic acid, succinic acid, malic acid, glycolic acid that help to treatment of back pain and sciatica and treatment of rheumatism. We can also use it for treating diarrhoea and menstrual irregularities in the woman.
Vegetarian tips:
Ab Ghooreh is very suitable for a vegetarian and vegan diet since it is made from an unripe fruit. I can say that it is so beneficial and useful for a vegetarian because it helps the absorption of vitamins and minerals.
Serving style of Ab Ghooreh:
We usually use Ab Ghooreh as a flavouring ingredient in cooking. Its pleasant sour taste unique, and there is no other material that can make it. But as mentioned earlier, we can also use a different shape of Ghooreh in cooking like Ghooreh powder and Ghooreh paste. We can use picked Ghooreh as a side dish along with some foods like broth (Abgosht), meatballs (Kofteh Tabrizi), Eshkeneh, and so on.
What are the Ingredients of Ab Ghooreh?
To make Ab Ghooreh, you just need big unripe grapes since bigger grape has more water.
How to make Ab Ghooreh?
I should say that We don’t cook Ab Ghooreh. We just squeeze the grapes and store them in the glass bottle. Of course, you should know how to save them to keep its nutrition value. If you wouldn’t store it correctly, it will lose its quality. There are several storage methods. Firs one, you can pour a tablespoon of olive on the top of the liquid in the bottle to prevent air from entering. Then put a piece of plastic nylon on the battle and close its lid. The second one, you can boil its juice with some salt.
It will help you can store it for a longer time, and it keeps its beautiful green colour. You should simmer it for 15 minutes as you gather the foam comes up. Then you should let it cools down, and its sediment settles down. Then you have to pass it from a filter to separate them. Finely you pour it into the glass bottle and close the lid. The third one, you can make dough with flour and water and cover the bottle lid with it. Forth one, you can stick the bottle head with tape to prevent the air from entering.
Recipe:
Since we can find fresh unripe grapes to make Ab Ghooreh once a year, so we make a large amount of Ab Ghooreh once a year on August (Mordad-Mah). The preparation time is 15 minutes, and it does not have the cooking time. It takes you only a few minutes to squeeze them.
Ab Ghooreh
Ingredients
- 23 lb unripe grapes
- Water
Instructions
- Separate little stems of grapes and clean them up.
- Place the grapes in a large bowl and wash them thoroughly and raise them.
- Spread them on a clean cloth and let them dry completely.
- Pour the grapes into the juicer and squeeze their juice. You can also pour them into the mixer and smash them. Then pass them from the filter to separate its pulp from its juice.
- Pour the Ab Ghooreh into the glass bottle.
- Apply one of the storage methods that is mentioned earlier in the part of “how to cook Ab Ghooreh” for better and longer storage.
Notes
Uniqop’s advice
- If you use Asghari type of grapes for making Ab Ghooreh is better because this type has no seed.
- As mentioned earlier, you`d better use big grapes because bigger grapes have more water in themselves.
- Make sure you separate the stem part of grapes. Otherwise, your Ab Ghooreh will be a little bitter.
- Never store Ab Ghooreh in the plastic bottle because its acidic properties cause changes in plastics and make it carcinogenic.
- To prevent Ab Ghooreh from moulding, sterilize the bottle before pouring Ab Ghooreh into it. Also, store them in a container with a small opening.
- Avoid exposing Ab Ghooreh`s bottles to sunlight because sunlight causes harmful chemical changes in Ab Ghooreh.