It's been a busy few months as we've harvested our garden. The tomatoes, potatoes and squash were a bust, perhaps because of a cool spring and early summer. But, we had an abundant crop of raspberries, peaches, and apples. We've canned peaches, made several different batches of fruit leather (which is already gone), and just recently I canned grape juice.
Grape Juice
1. Pick grapes.
2. Prepare quart bottles. I washed mine in the dishwasher on a sani-rinse.
3. Fill basin of steamer approximately 3/4 full of water.
4. Rinse grapes, picking out leaves or debris. Leave grapes on the stems.
5. Place grapes into steamer. Pack, but don't press.
6. Bring water in basin to a boil. Turn down to medium heat.
7. After about 50 minutes, you will be able to fill one or two still-hot quart bottles.
8. Place flats on full bottles and finger-tighten the rings.
9. Check water in basin. Refill if necessary.
10. After an additional 20 to 40 minutes, you should be able to fill approximately three or four more bottles. Place flats and rings.
11. Process in a water bath for 5 minutes (adjust for elevation). The USDA also adds sugar (which is optional) and an additional step of refrigerating, straining and reheating the grape juice before processing in order to reduce tartaric acid. The tartaric acid crystals don't bother me, so I skip this step. I add my own sugar when using the juice.
Here is a link to official recipes and water bath times: UGA - Grape Juice.
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4 comments:
Love it! We've been making grape juice for about 20 years now, and the only thing I would say say contrary to your post is to take the grapes off of the stems. It's a bit more work, but the juice is clearer and there is less bitterness, even from grapes that are slightly underripe.
Thanks Jeannetta - I've always done it this way and didn't know that the stems affected the taste.
After owning several juicer/steamers, I've finally weaned myself off them. As shown here, they take a lot of energy to produce the juice, which is void of important enzymes and other nutrients lost in the heating process. I think a much more efficient method for your consideration would be a small (or large) press. In that way the stems are also not an issue. After pressing out all the juice possible, the leftovers can be run thru a Foley (ricer) and all possible meat from the grapes can be extracted and used for jam, puree, or a grapesauce. Just some input.
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