Grape Harvest

There is a cute little white picket fence in my backyard that runs along the driveway...from the back gate to the garage. Unfortunately you can't even tell there is a white picket fence there because it has been overrun by about three different kinds of vines! Fortunately a couple of those vines produce grapes. A few weeks ago I was taking the trash out and I happened to glance over at the vines closest to the garage and lo and behold there were tons of marble size grapes (the other grape vine produces pea size grapes that I feel are kind of pointless so I let them go to waste every year). I tried one and boy was it good...a little tart, but much better than the small ones. That night Pacen and I picked most of the bunches of those grapes off the vine (at least 98% of them).



When I got done removing every grape from each bunch we had around 11 pounds of grapes!


I decided to make some jelly and juice. I found a couple recipes online. You will not believe this but I used a recipe that did not come from recipezaar.com. :) Here is the recipe:

Easy Homemade Grape Jelly

5 pounds of fresh grapes
Pectin
Around 7 cups of granulated sugar
Canning stuff (jars, lids, strainer, etc.)

Wash your jars. Now wash the grapes and then chop or mash them very well. I used a potato masher to mash them, but you can also use a food processor. (We're hoping to get at least 5 cups of juice from the grapes.) Put the mashed grapes in a large pot on the stove over medium to high heat and heat to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes (stir every so often so the grapes don't stick or burn). Meanwhile, measure out the sugar. Mix the dry pectin with 1/4 cup of sugar and set aside. When the grapes are done simmering put them through a strainer or cheesecloth. Pour the hot grape juice into a large pot and add the pectin/sugar mixture stirring to dissolve. Put the pot on medium to high heat until the juice is at a full boil (the kind that can't be stirred away). Make sure you stir frequently so it doesn't burn. Put the lids in a pan of hot water so they can begin to soften. Add the remaining sugar (6 3/4 cups) to the the juice and bring back to a boil and boil HARD for 1 minute. Fill the jars, put the lids and rings on, and process the jars in a boiling water bath (how long depends on altitude...I processed for 10 minutes).






After making the jelly I still had 6 pounds of grapes sitting on my counter. I would've made more jelly, but I was out of jars and didn't feel like going to the store so I opted to make juice. Here is the juice recipe:

Homemade Grape Juice

5-6 pounds of fresh grapes
Cheesecloth or sieve
large pots

Mash the grapes with a potato masher and put into a large pot on the stove over medium heat. Slowly heat to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and halfway through cooking mash the grapes some more. Prepare the cheesecloth (I put some cheesecloth in a colander over a bowl). Ladle the cooked grapes over the cheesecloth and let sit for several hours or overnight in the fridge to strain completely. Now you can remove the cheesecloth and rinse and then strain the grapes again, but I just strained once. Pour juice into a container and enjoy. Mine made about 2 quarts. It was good but kind of tart.



Maybe next year I'll decide to use the little grapes too. We'll see. Everyone keeps asking me why I didn't make wine. Well, to be quite honest...I HATE wine! I do have a lot of friends that love that nasty beverage though, so maybe next year I'll make some wine for my "wino" friends (using the little grapes). :)

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." ~ Galileo Galilei

" We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne." ~ Marcus Aurelius