Concord Grape Jelly

This morning as I sat down to breakfast, I decided to pop open a jar of grape jelly...what I think of as "exploding grape" jelly. Last summer, Susan and Tim found abundant Concord grape vines in their small back yard in Watertown, and Tim snuck out to pick them before the landlord or neighbors could get to the supply - and pick them he did! He gathered as many as he could, and they are just a beautiful, deep purple. They give off a sickly sweet grapey scent, which makes my mouth water. Anyway, back to the story of the exploding grapes...

After Tim picked and washed the grapes, we turned to the 1967 Joy of Cooking that belonged to our grandmother, Elizabeth Foster, because it has a recipe for making and preserving grape jelly. As you can see below, this recipe advises using slightly under-ripe grapes, which we had, and the grapes must be boiled and then strained. This is where the exploding grapes come in: *someone* among us had the bright idea to put the grapes through my food strainer. As you might recall from a previous post, this device is much like a food mill, which separates pulp from skin and seeds. It works wonderfully with apples...and not very well with grapes. It instantly became clogged, and then another *someone* had the equally bright idea to pull off the funnel, thereby releasing the grapes all over the table, floor, and us.

After we recovered from this explosion, we boiled down the pulp to exactly 220 degrees F and poured the jelly into sanitized jars. We made enough to share, learned several lessons about making grape jelly, and are all ready for next year's crop!


Grape Jelly Recipe: Joy of Cooking, 1967

Wash slightly underripe Concord or wild grapes
They are preferable to ripe or overripe grapes because of their tart flavor and higher pectin content. Remove stems. Mash them in a large pot and cook until soft and the grapes begin to lose color. Strain the juice, measure it. Bring juice to a rolling boil and remove from heat. For each cup of juice, add 3/4 to 1 c. sugar. Stir it over heat until dissolved and the liquid comes to 220 degrees F (or try the gel test on a spoon). You can add an apple to this mixture during the cooking to increase pectin content and guarantee jelling.