In the Kitchen

Although we have a grape arbor in the yard, its production has been really poor in recent years.  I’m not sure what the problem is – although I suspect it has something to do with how we’re having it pruned.  Something to look into for next year . . .

In the meantime, a family member kindly provided me with some wonderful purple Concord grapes from her yard, and even though they filled only a small bucket, they produced approximately eight cups of juice – more than enough for a batch of grape jelly.

Step one:  I washed the grapes and pulled out as many stems, green berries, etc as possible.  I then put the grapes in a large pot and crushed them with a potato masher.  Next, I added just enough water to cover the grapes and put them on the stove to boil.  Once they came to a boil (stirring to avoid scorching), I reduced the heat to simmer for ten minutes.

Step two:  I poured the contents of the pot into a sieve and let the juice run thorough, then helped to complete the process by smooching the grapes against the sides of the sieve to get out as much juice as possible.

Step three:  I measured out 4 cups of juice into a large pot on the stove, and added 2/3 cup water and 4 tlb low sugar / no sugar pectin.  I brought the pot to a rolling boil, then added approx 3/4 cup sugar, brought the pot back to a rolling boil, and stirred constantly for one minute.  Then I turned off the heat and hot bath canned the jelly for 10-15 minutes.

I’m always nervous that the jelly won’t set up, and I’ll end up with a runny mess, and it’s true that you have to wait a while to be sure (I think because the jelly is so hot at first, it still looks very liquid), but by evening, the jars seemed to be setting up nicely.  I’m thinking I have one more batch of jelly in me, before I move on to applesauce . . .

Other late-summer harvests including freezing raspberries to make fruit smoothies throughout the winter, and canning tomato sauce from a delicious roasted tomatoes/veggies recipe – I’ll try to get it posted, it’s worth trying!

First step:  cut down the bunches of grapes and toss them into the galvanized metal bin.

Second step:  Fill the bin with water to wash the grapes, then find a willing child to stomp them (dog is optional

Third step:  Put the mashed grapes (skins, seeds, stems, and all) in a large pot on the stove, fill with water to just cover the grapes, then bring to a full boil.  Turn down the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Note that this step is really important – for some reason, if you squeeze the juice out first and just boil the juice (without the skins), you get grape juice but it will never set up as jelly, no matter how much pectin you throw in.  I know this from hard-earned experience in prior years!

Fourth step:  Strain the juice out – I tried buying a strainer specifically for this purpose, but it was so incredibly slow that I gave up and just used cheesecloth.  In batches, put the grape matter into the cheesecloth, then squeeze until you extract all the juice, and dispose of the rest in the compost.  Directions I’ve read say that squeezing will make your juice (and, as a result, your jelly) cloudy, but I couldn’t tell any difference between the juice I collected by letting it naturally drain, and the juice I collected from squeezing through the cheesecloth.

Fifth step:  Measure 8 cups of juice into a large pot; heat on stove, then add 8 tlb of low sugar / no sugar pectin.  I also added a tablespoon of butter, and had no problem with foaming.  Bring pot to boil, stirring constantly.  Add 1 1/2 – 2 cups sugar.  Bring back to a rolling boil, then boil for one minute, stirring constantly.  Turn off the heat and dip in a metal spoon; let a little liquid sit on the spoon for 5-10 minutes to see if it’s setting up at all.  If not, try adding more pectin and bringing it back to boil again.

Sixth step:  Ladle grape liquid into hot jars, put on lids and rims, and put into a hot bath canner for 5-10 minutes.

It may seem like it’s not going to set up at first – my experience is that even after hot bath canning, I have to wait until the jelly cools to see if it’s going to change from liquid to a gelled consistency. 

My peach trees are still babies, and not really producing anything right now – certainly not peaches as beautiful as these!  So, I bought two boxes of local peaches at the farmers market – making sure that they were free stone, which I failed to do the first time, to my great regret.  Here’s the  steps for canning them:

Boil peaches in hot water for 30-45 seconds (this is to make their skins easy to remove), then put them in a colander and run cold water over them.

Peel off the skins (place in a plastic bucket for composting – NOT a paper bag because it will soak through even if double-bagged, I learned the hard way!)  Cut each peach in half, and pull apart at the cut, being careful not to squish the peach flesh in the process.  Then cut each half again, so the peach is cut in quarters.  Remove the pit.  Place the peach quarters in a large bowl (you don’t want to leave them here too long, because they’ll start to brown almost immediately).

Mix up the sugar solution in advance – boil 6 cups water, then add 2 cups of sugar (this makes enough for 7 quart jars).  Add in 6 tsp of Fruit Fresh.

Sterilize jars and rims in advance, as well, either by running them through the sterilize cycle on the dishwasher, or boiling them in the canning pot.  Put the peach quarters in the jars (I use wide-mouth quarter jars, and then a few wide-mouth pint jars for individual servings).   Pour in the sugar solution, making sure that it covers the peaches and comes up to 1/4″ from the rim (any exposed peach flesh will brown).  Jiggle a butter knife around in the jar to get out any air bubbles.

Heat the lids slightly in a pan of boiling water – this will make them adhere better to the jar.  Put on a lid, then screw on the rim.  Put the peaches in a hot bath canner for 20 minutes (timed from the time when the water in the canner begins to boil).