What to use instead of raisins
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Chewy sweet pockets in a bake or a pilaf
A dried grape rehydrates in the batter or the rice, swelling slightly and staying chewier than everything around it while it releases concentrated sugar into the crumb next to it.
Dried currantsRan out
1:1
Smaller, so they scatter more evenly and no single bite is dominated by one. Slightly more tart.
Dried cranberriesRan out
1:1
Sharper and redder, and sweetened, so a savoury pilaf tilts noticeably festive. Excellent in oatmeal cookies.
Chopped datesRan out
1:1 by volume, chopped to raisin size
Sweeter and softer, and they melt into the crumb rather than holding a chew. A potica filling made with dates has no bite left in it.
Dried sour cherriesRan out
1:1
Tart enough to change the character of the dish. Very good in rice, distracting in soda bread.
Chopped dried apricotsRan out
1:1
Softer, much less sweet, with a sour top note, and the colour reads orange through the crumb.
What doesn't work: Fresh grapes. They are around 80 percent water, so they burst in the oven, leave sour wet holes in the crumb, and the bread goes gummy wherever the juice ran.
Sweet counterweight in a savoury braise (picadillo, mole, sarmale)
Small bursts of sugar and a little acid stop a long-cooked pot of meat and spice going one-note. The raisin is behaving like a pinch of sugar you can actually locate on the spoon.
Chopped prunesRan out
1:1
Darker and deeper, and they break down completely into the sauce instead of staying whole, which also thickens the braise.
Chopped dried apricotsRan out
1:1
More acidic, so the pot tastes brighter. Standard in Moroccan and Persian cooking anyway.
Golden raisins or sultanasRan out
1:1
Slightly sweeter and lighter in colour, and they stay plumper because they hold more moisture to begin with.
Pomegranate molassesRan out
1 tbsp per 1/4 cup raisins
Sour-sweet through the whole sauce rather than in pockets, and no texture at all.
What doesn't work: Sugar stirred in to replace the raisins. It sweetens the entire pot evenly, which is exactly what raisins do not do; the contrast between a savoury spoonful and a sweet burst is the whole effect and dissolved sugar erases it.
Fifteen minutes soaking in hot water, rum or the braising liquid stops raisins stealing moisture from the dough around them.