Grape Jelly

Putting up Food - Grape Jelly

The first thing I ever canned was grape jelly.  It was three years ago when I was teaching Family and Consumer Science at a nearby high school.  My co-worker, the shop teacher across the hall, brought me a five gallon bucket of grapes.  Apparently, he was making wine.  I was not that adventurous.  

So I went home that night and looked the "how to" up online, and that began my canning career.  I really had no idea what I was doing or if it would work.  For a long time I wondered if I would make someone sick with my canned goods or even worse yet.  But no, no one took ill.  Instead, I ended up with 12 beautiful jars of translucent purple jelly that some even proclaimed better than store bought.  Yay me.

This year, it was my aunt who supplied me with grapes.  Funny thing is that I didn't even know she grew them.  She hasn't been using them for a few years now and they would normally go to waste.  My cousin suggested she give them to me and in return I'd give her some jars of jelly.  Sounded like a good deal to me.  So when we met for lunch yesterday, I received an enormous crate of grapes. I was back in the jelly business :)

The Business of Making Grape Jelly...

The first thing that needs to be done is to wash and de-stem the fruit.  I set up shop on the deck.  If you decide to do the same, beware of bees.  One arrived, but he wasn't too pesky.  Supplies were easy enough - three containers (one for wash water, one for stems and over ripe fruit, and one for clean grapes) and the hose.

Working from left to right, I set up the grapes, wash bucket, and then two empty buckets.  I took about an hour and a half to repeatedly grab a handful, swish it into the water, de-stem it and place it into the clean bucket.  I ended up with two and a half buckets full.  Each bucket weighed in at just over three pounds.

Because the day was getting away from me, my buckets of grapes went into the fridge.  Today, I've pulled out my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and gotten busy.  Referring to page 106, I cleaned the grapes once again, placed them in a stainless steel pot and brought them to a boil.  I boiled them for ten minutes to loosen the skins and juices.  I also mashed them occasionally too.

Next, I lined my strainer with four layers of cheese cloth and placed the strainer over another pot..  Then I scoop the grapes and juice into the lined strainer.  The instructions call for letting the grapes sit for a full two hours to release all the juice - undisturbed.

Your not supposed to press the grapes so that bits of solids aren't released into the pot.  By not disturbing it, you end up with a clear, translucent juice. 

So into my stainless steel pot went five cups of juice and one box of pectin.  That got whisked together until the pectin dissolved. I brought the juice to a boil and added all of the sugar at once.

I stirred near constantly until the juice mixture came to a hard rolling boil ( a boil that cannot be stirred down).  I let that boil for one minute and then shut off the stove.  Ready to can.

The hard boil does create a foam that needs to be scooped off.  The hot jelly juice gets poured into hot jars leaving a quarter inch of head-space. Rims are wiped with a clean damp rag.  The lid gets centered on and the band gets screwed on fingertip tight.  Jars are processed in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  When ten minutes are up, the stove gets turned off and the jars rest in the water for an additional five minutes with the canner lid off.  Once the jars are removed, they are allowed to sit for 24 hours undisturbed.

SUCCESS !

* If you are in fact thinking of doing your own canning, please refer to a reliable source book such as The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving for all the exact measurements and details.  Also, always check with your local extension office for changes in time, temperatures, and higher altitude conversions.

This post has been shared with Food Renegade, Make Your Own Monday, and Too Many Jars in My Kitchen.