Ok, you’re melting in a heat wave and hot sunshine… But that will be cause to rejoice if you harness the power of that sun and show your kids how you can turn grapes into raisins.

Two years ago, we actually tried a similar trick using an oven, and I’d been waiting for the chance to make a sun-dried version. Boil a bunch of whole green grapes for 30 seconds, then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water. Travis loved helping me make the ice water bowl!

Place the grapes on foil pans, then cover with a breathable cloth and place somewhere outside that gets direct sunlight. Bonus points for weather that’s 85 degrees or above. Let the grapes stand for 3 to 5 days, then see how you’ve shriveled them into raisins.

By day 1, the grapes were definitely shriveled and wrinkly on the outside, although still the same size as regular grapes.

As the days went on, they got smaller and wrinklier but – oh no! A bout of rain caught us by surprise, and our raisins turned moldy before we had a chance to try them.

So even though we weren’t entirely successful, I can’t wait to hear your stories about sun-dried goodies in the comments.