Out of season – In season – Grape Jelly

Isaiah 62:9  but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary

Eating in season is best. Perseving during the season is still great though. With perserving you can eat locally all year long! Last year I picked grapes and made grape jelly for the first time. It was a long process and very time consuming. Cleaning the grapes and picking them from the stems was not that fun! Well just last week a great friend gave me a jar of frozen grape juice. And not just any grape juice. Grape juice made from the grapes grown at the Harmony Museum in Harmony, PA! So what is better than in season grapes? Preserved local grape juice; because I did not have to wash, destem, and cook those grapes!!! Since this was already frozen I couldnt freeze the left overs. I had enough to make 8 half pints of jelly and some grape pudding. What is grape pudding you ask. Well read on!

 

Grape Pudding

1 3/4 cups of unsweetened grape juice
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sugar
3 Tbs of cornstarch

Combine all ingredients in a pan and cook until thickened. This has a very unique taste. Audrey loved it!

 

Now on to what you really came to read about, grape jelly! There are so many recipes for grape jelly. Each book I have has a different on. Each website has their own version. I decided to stick to the simplest version.

Grape Jelly

5 1/2 cups of fresh, local, unsweetened grape juice
(I will post this fall on how to get juice from grapes)
3 1/2 cups of sugar
1 box of low/no sugar pectin

 

Combine the grape juice and 3 1/4 cups sugar in a large pot. In a seperate bowl mix box of pectin with remaining 1/4 cup sugar.  Heat over medium until it comes to a boil that cannot be stopped when stirred. Add pectin mixture and boil 2 minutes (no longer). Quickly ladle hot jelly into sterilized jars. Wipe rims and put on lids. Process 5 minutes (for my altitude 10 minutes) in a water bath canner. This makes 8 half pints of (the most delicious) jelly. This is a very soft set jelly due to the fact there is not alot of sugar in the recipe. It is almost watery until it completely cools and sets. Don’t worry.

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