Once upon a time, I asked B what his favorite dessert was. I knew that he was more of an “ice cream man” than a “pastry guy”, but I was curious about whether he actually had a favorite non-ice cream dessert, and it was one of those days where I was looking for something new to try. Little did I know the can of worms that I was about to open.

Here’s how the conversation basically went:

K: Hey, B, what’s your favorite dessert?

B (pauses to think for a few seconds): Ice cream.

K: Well, I knew that. What’s your favorite non-ice cream dessert?

B: Hmm…I’m not sure.

K: C’mon, you have to have a favorite dessert that’s not ice cream.

B (thinks for a minute or so, eyes start to glaze over, stares wistfully into the distance): I know. Grape pie. (makes the Homer Simpson drooling sound)

K: What?!

B: Grape pie.

K (imagines eating a pie full of eyeballs): That sounds disgusting. What kind of grapes are in this pie?

B: Concord grapes.

K: The kind in jelly?

B: Yeah, they used to grow on vines in the backyard at my parents’ house, and my mom would make Concord grape pie during years when there were enough grapes on the vines.

K (who has lived in town her whole life and has never had a yard with anything but grass): Hmm…I don’t know about this grape pie.

B: You have to make one! But the grapes are only available for a few weeks in the fall.

K (glad that she asked this question in a season other than fall): I don’t know. It’s a very strange sounding dessert.

B: Well, you asked, so now you have to make me a grape pie!

K (thinks that she will never, ever make grape pie): Maybe.

I thought that was it, that B would forget all about the grape pie conversation and happily go on eating ice cream and fruit crumbles without giving a second thought to grape pie. Fast forward to fall:

B: You know what you should make?

K: What?

B (with a wistful look in his eyes): Grape pie.

K (uh oh): Eww, I don’t think so!

And this was the conversation for the following couple of seasons, until 2005, when I decided to give in:

B: You know what you should make?

K: I know, I know. Grape pie.

B (with a look in his eyes that I can’t resist): Will you?

K: Okay, I’ll make you a grape pie, but don’t expect me to eat any of it.

B: That’s okay. I’ll eat it all.

K: Alright, so where do I find Concord grapes?

B: Well, I’ve never looked for them since they grew in the backyard. Maybe the grocery store?

Two weeks later, after looking at multiple grocery stores and visiting a farmer’s market:

K: I can’t find the grapes, B.

B (looks sad): There’s got to be someplace around that has them.

K: Maybe Trader Joe’s?

And so it was that I made my first ever trip to Trader Joe’s, which I’d been meaning to visit anyway. As I walked over to the produce case at the front of the store, I saw them. Concord grapes. So, I grabbed four packages and guarded them closely, knowing how precious they were but still thinking that this pie was going to be awful. The checkout guy had his opinion about the grapes, too:

Checkout guy (gets a wistful look in his eyes as he catches a whiff of the grapes): I love Concord grapes. (picks up a carton and sniffs it) They used to grow in my parents’ backyard when I was a kid, and my brothers and I would look forward to eating them every year. (stares wistfully into the distance) I love them.

K (wonders if she was the only kid who didn’t have Concord grapes growing in the backyard): My fiancee loves them, too.

Fearing that my grapes would be stolen by some other Concord grape-loving guy, I hurried back home and put them safely in the fridge, which quickly began to smell faintly of Concord grapes. Maybe there was something to this grape pie thing?

Continued story and recipe next time…