Friday, August 31, 2012

Grape Jelly


Christopher & Paige were oh so kind to give us some grapes.  (If I ever see another laundry basket full of grapes it will be too soon!)  So, I made grape jelly.  I have a niece & nephew who have won great ribbons making grape jelly for 4-H so I thought I must have some of the same genetic talent! 

I decided to photograph and blog about the good, the bad and the broken rules...  


Wash grapes and remove them from the clusters.

Ready to cook before juicing.

I boiled them in a little bit of water until the skins broke open.
I then put them in cheese cloth and squeezed out the juice.  I dislike this step as I usually end up burning my hands.  I juiced another day and used a Sauce Master as shown here:   
I did not cook the grapes first with this.  The only trouble I found with this method was that I got pulp.  So I just ran the "juice" from this through the cheesecloth (over a large bowl) to strain out the pulp.  I used a product SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin to gel it up. 

Cook the juice and SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin on the stove top.  Later adding sugar and cooking some more.  I just follow the recipe in the SURE-JELL package.  Then pour the hot liquid into jars and seal with canning lids and rings.

Here is the breaking rules part....  I cheated and just turned the jars upside down.  It is now 12 hours later and they all sealed.  However, USDA states they should have had a boiling water bath as that is a more safe perservation method.

We have sampled some and it is quite tasty.  We will likely share some as Christmas gifts and much of it we will enjoy ourselves!


6 comments:

  1. Oh this looks yummy. I make grape jelly and I never water bath and have never had a problem. My Grandma never did and she lived a nice long life. Thanks for sharing the process. B

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    1. I figure if it seals that is all that matters! I used to do it this way, then we had to follow 4-H rules when our boys were old enough (about 15 years ago). I was in a hurry so went back to the old way.

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  2. The old ways are tried and true. You did well. :)

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  3. You naughty girl!! ;-)
    I usually do the upside down jar thingy with jams and jellies too. Such a beautiful dark purple color on your jelly! YUM!!

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    1. Thank you. It is fun to see that I am not the only one breaking the "new" guidelines!

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