The verdict is in on the wild grape jelly I made last night. Yummy! And the texture is wonderful. I worried that it would end up too thick and hard to spread, sort of Jell-O-like, but it's perfect. Would I do it again? Absolutely! But I'll pick more grapes next time so I can make more of it at once. Maybe I'll even make strawberry jam next year from the berries in our garden.
The other good news is that my all-time favorite peanut butter, Peter Pan, is back in production. In the past several months while it has been off the shelves, I tried other peanut butters, even some of the natural ones. There is nothing like Peter Pan Creamy Peanut Butter, unless it's Honey Roasted Peter Pan Peanut Butter, which I haven't yet seen in the stores, but their website says it's out there.
Wild Grape Jelly
3 lbs. wild grapes, stemmed
3 cups water
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 (85 ml) package liquid pectin
- In large saucepan, crush grapes with potato masher; pour in water and bring to boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until fruit is very soft.
- Transfer to jelly bag or colander lined with a double thickness of fine cheesecloth and let drip overnight.
- Measure juice (you should have 3 cups/750 ml) into a large heavy saucepan; stir in sugar.
- Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
- Stir in pectin.
- Return to full boil and boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon.
- Pour into sterilized jars, leaving 1/8 inch headspace.
Oops! I forgot a step . . .
- Enjoy!
"Bejeweled"
7 comments:
I thought I didn't like grape jelly until I made my own. It just bursts with flavor, doesn't it? We have wild grapes and I think I will try making jelly next year with them.
I think that sounds good enough for breakfast! I need to plant some grapevines!
This and your previous post about 50 year grape jelly were just too, too funny, Kylee! I have grapes outside on the grapevine I planted several years ago. No idea when they'll be ripe enough to pick, but I plan to turn mine into grape jelly too. Just hope it doesn't take me QUITE so long.
I especially chortled at the story about your cucumbers. I leave mine in the plastic sleeve they come in (the English type) for the same reason; I get about halfway through the cucumber before it turns to mush. Ick!
I am so glad for your jelly success! I had never made jam/jelly until we lived next door to a huge blackberry patch, and could pick them by the gallon. Jam is not so hard, jelly either!
Oh sounds like heaven. I wish I could be as excited about PP production again... but my little man is allergic so we can't have it in the house. :-(
Yum. This makes me want to plant my grapevine that's been stuck in a temporary pot now for three years.
I tried a similar recipe for wild grape JAM after reading this. I make lots of wild raspberry jam and it is fantastic. When I was cooking the grapes, they smelled awful. The finished product tastes sweet, but not that grapey. 3 lbs of grapes made only 1.5 pint jars. I ended up tossing 6 lbs of grapes out because it just wasn't worth the work and didn't taste very good. Are all wild grapes the same, I wonder? Why didn't mine smell and taste good like other people's? Maryonearth
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