I'm a little late in writing this, as it was back on October 8th that I actually started making the jelly, but hey, better late than never - right?
For a few weeks our market was overrun with concord grapes. The grapes were so sweet and so potent that they were covered in bees, greedy for their nectar. We bought a few pints with jelly in mind. I was a bit nervous, as my first foray into jelly making last year almost resulted in a kitchen fire. But I was determined to get over my jelly phobia and I was looking forward to a winter full of grapey goodness.
Of course, I turned to my trusty copy of Sherri Vinton's Put 'em Up! to find the perfect recipe. You are probably sick of me saying this, but really, this is a great canning book. Out of respect to the author, I won't reprint her recipes. But, once you buy the book, turn to page 207 and start making some jelly!
There are really just a few steps to making the jelly. Here are some of the highlights.
Bringing the grapes to a boil:
Mashing the grapes while boiling:
Once the grapes are sufficiently mashed, I poured the mixture into a colander lined with cheesecloth, resting in a large bowl and let it sit in the fridge overnight. When I pulled it out, it looked like this:
Kind of gross, huh? This gets thrown away and the good stuff is in the bowl.
This is pure grape juice. The smell was out of the world, like nothing I have smelled before. I wanted to bathe in it. But instead, I turned it into jelly. And I'm proud to say that this go around was successful. There were no small fires, the jelly set up perfectly and the end result was delicious.
Here's the final product, on a slice of Craig's homemade bread. Perfection.
Now that I have conquered the jelly, I want to make jellies non-stop. Of course, it's the end of the fruit season, so I guess I'll have to wait until next spring.
For a few weeks our market was overrun with concord grapes. The grapes were so sweet and so potent that they were covered in bees, greedy for their nectar. We bought a few pints with jelly in mind. I was a bit nervous, as my first foray into jelly making last year almost resulted in a kitchen fire. But I was determined to get over my jelly phobia and I was looking forward to a winter full of grapey goodness.
Of course, I turned to my trusty copy of Sherri Vinton's Put 'em Up! to find the perfect recipe. You are probably sick of me saying this, but really, this is a great canning book. Out of respect to the author, I won't reprint her recipes. But, once you buy the book, turn to page 207 and start making some jelly!
There are really just a few steps to making the jelly. Here are some of the highlights.
Bringing the grapes to a boil:
Mashing the grapes while boiling:
Once the grapes are sufficiently mashed, I poured the mixture into a colander lined with cheesecloth, resting in a large bowl and let it sit in the fridge overnight. When I pulled it out, it looked like this:
Kind of gross, huh? This gets thrown away and the good stuff is in the bowl.
This is pure grape juice. The smell was out of the world, like nothing I have smelled before. I wanted to bathe in it. But instead, I turned it into jelly. And I'm proud to say that this go around was successful. There were no small fires, the jelly set up perfectly and the end result was delicious.
Here's the final product, on a slice of Craig's homemade bread. Perfection.
Now that I have conquered the jelly, I want to make jellies non-stop. Of course, it's the end of the fruit season, so I guess I'll have to wait until next spring.
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