Concord Grape Juice & Jelly

One of the things I love about our CSA is that the family who owns the farm also owns a vineyard. That means for a few weeks every fall we get concord grapes. If you've never had homemade grape juice or jelly, it's really so much better than what you can buy at the store (in my opinion anyway).

Grape juice is pretty easy to make:
1. Rinse a few bunches of concord grapes.
2. Pick the grapes off the stems (it's okay if a few small ones are left) and put them in a large pot.
3. Add enough cold water to cover the grapes.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes. While the grapes are cooking, periodically mash them with a potato masher or back of a spoon to help them break down.

5. Pour the juice through a strainer into a large bowl. You may need to mash and stir the grape pulp to get the last bit of juice to go through.
6. Chill the juice before serving.

Obviously, the grape juice is delicious to drink all on its own, but I like to mix it with some sparkling water to make it a little more special.

Once you have fresh grape juice, it doesn't take much more to make jelly. Unlike making jam from stone fruits, you will need pectin to get the grape jelly to gel. I prefer to use liquid pectin, so these are the directions for that. Double check the directions on your box of pectin before proceeding.

Ingredients:

• 4 C. grape juice
• 7 C. sugar
• 1 envelope of liquid pectin

In a large pot, mix the juice and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Use the largest pot you have, as the juice will foam and quadruple in size when it starts to boil. I've had some success adding a pat of butter to the liquid to limit the foaming. Do NOT walk away from the stove or you will end up with grape syrup all over the place!!!! Once the juice and sugar is at a full boil, add the pectin and boil for 1 more minute, stirring continuously. 

Remove from the heat and ladle into sterilized jars - you will need about 8 small mason jars. If you want the jelly to be shelf-stable, you need to process your jars using a hot water bath. One of these days, I'll get all the equipment I need for canning and give it a try. For the time being, I just store the jars in the refrigerator - they will keep for about a month.

I have had good success cutting this recipe in half (using only half of the liquid pectin) to make a smaller amount of jelly.