Raisins

Raisins are nothing more than grapes that have given up their water. As the water leaves, the sugars stay behind and crowd together, which is why a raisin tastes so much sweeter than the grape it came from. The dark, wrinkled skin tells you the same story: a plump grape has shrunk into something small and dense, and that is exactly what you want.

Choose raisins the way you choose any dried fruit: by touch and by smell, not by looks alone. A good raisin is soft and a little springy when you press it, never hard as a pebble. It should smell of grape, warm and winey, not of dust or cardboard. If it feels brittle and crumbles, it has been sitting too long and lost what made it worth eating.

Some people say raisins keep forever, so they never bother sealing the bag. No! Left open, they dry out further and pick up whatever smells sit next to them in the fridge. Leave the bag open and you will find them shriveled and hard, with none of that winey smell left, when you reach for them to drop into your plov.