All my grapes became ripe at the same time which made an easy decision to embark on a grape jam project.
I found lots of recipes for grape jelly but I wanted to include some of the texture that a whole grape can provide and not merely strain out the skins and pulp for the juice.
Always experimenting, I also had a half full container of 100% pure blueberry juice that I used for the Angel’s smoothies so they wouldn’t be refused because they were a yucky GREEN color. It perfectly masks the kale and spinach, teehee.
Every summer, my mom and I used to make pickles and jams and preserves, enough jewel-colored Mason jars to last until the following spring, but I haven’t done it in a while.
She was way more scientifically precise than I could ever hope to be as I never had her patience, but most of the time my creations taste pretty good.
It’s hot and humid, not the greatest weather to cook pots of boiling grapes, but once I started, I was committed to finishing this project.
I didn’t can them in a proper water bath but filled containers for the refrigerator and freezer.
The most time consuming part was separating every grape from its tiny little stem–thank goodness my grapes were seedless — so I set aside about four cups to use whole, and cooked the rest of the grapes separately to strain. I might have zero patience but I’m clever!
At the last minute I decided to add ginger and cinnamon. Those two ingredients elevated the flavor more than I could have imagined.
I lost the identification tag, so I don’t know exactly what type of grape I have, but they’re seedless and very sweet. This was only half of the grapes I used.
I cooked them in two pots, added the sugar equally along with ginger and cinnamon, and skimmed off the white foam:
Strained the one pot of grapes that weren’t cleaned as diligently…
After that, I combined both pots of grapes, added the blueberry juice and pectin, let it come to a rolling boil for another minute, and the mixture was ready to fill freshly sterilized containers. I wasn’t going to use pectin because I thought there was enough natural pectin, but I had some and it’s vegan, so I added it.
Disaster! I’m sure most people are smarter than me and wouldn’t fill plastic containers with boiling liquid. Life lessons, right? I licked a bit off the counter and it’s DELICIOUS. Don’t you think that container reminds you of Picasso’s melting clocks? I do! Such a mess.
Much better!
I had to hurry and sterilize a lot of glass jars and didn’t have time to scrape off the labels, but they’re clean and bacteria-free. After cooling, it jelled beautifully. I’m very happy with the results!
Here’s the recipe I created.
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 
Now I know what I am hungry for! Lovely
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It has such a bright flavor, not like any grape jelly/jam you’d purchase. Not at all spicy, but a hint of it is perfect. I’ll do it again next year!
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I don’t have the patience of making jams and jellies anymore, especially since I can’t eat much, my son’s dieting (and winning, but slowly), Garry is more into salt than sweet — AND the freezer is stuff tight with stuff. I do appreciate the art though, even if I don’t have the patience to do it these days. I’m too old and it’s too freaking HOT.
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I hear ya, but it was extremely satisfying! If I remember correctly, my mom made sauerkraut too cos I still have the earthenware crocks she used to ferment it. I never ate it back then but I wish I had some now.
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Looks and sounds delicious! My mom always made all the jam and jelly when we were growing up. And years later in retirement, Dad took over and added marmalade to the list. I’d make blackberry jam from our berries and send him a few jars, while he sent me jars of strawberry and marmalade.
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Yum! I love marmalade! I’m glad to see many are still making all this stuff.
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