humorsofwinter said:
I should probably mention that I’m from Eastern Europe, so there’s a significant oriental influence in our culinary practices. But drying grapes into raisins was just a way to preserve an otherwise delicate fruit. So yes, rehydrating the raisins it’s a way of getting back the grapes, maybe when they would have been out of season, with some extra flavor and sugar because of the drying process.
humorsofwinter said:
I can see how soaking them in water can seem a bit iffy, but rehydrating raisins is actually often a required part of preparing them. For baking, for oriental rice recipes, for chocolate recipes, I always have to soak them in something, depending on the recipe. Usually its rum, cognac, vanilla essence for sweets. As for eating them as they are, most people don’t like them if they’re too dry, so they either look for the larger, juicier ones, or they rehydrate them.