What are you canning now?

[donrae]

Did 9 quarts of chili sauce, and 6 quarts of catsup. Still have half a tote of tomatoes sitting on the porch.

 

[rancher hicks]

A friend is selling her parents home and gave me bags and bags of concord grapes. She cut the vines down.

Why is it the folks who don't use these types of things have plenty and I struggle to grow them? If I could make steam come out of my ears I would.

I just blankity blanks me off to no end!

Anyhow I'm working on juice from three batches 14 cups each, for grape jelly.

One recipe calls for 14 cups another for 10. One for a tart apple the other for an organic lemon. I intend to make each and see which comes out better. Neither calls for pectin added.

I've another that has cloves in it but DW says no, like I make it based on what she likes.

I wonder should I freeze some juice for later use or make it all up? Could I freeze the grapes cooked down and then strain it later?

Lord know one batch of jelly will be plenty for today's avg. sized family for the year. If you consider that you'd make other kinds of jelly too. How many jars can a family of 6 (average sized to me) eat in a year?

 

[3goodeggs]

Grapes, especially the concord varieties have a lot of natural pectin, that is why pectinace has to be added to wine to keep it from being cloudy.

I find it to be a bit unnerving because you have to do the spoon sheeting to know when it is done, versus just dumping the pectin in and cooking for the required amount of time.

My mother thought sheeting was something that it obviously wasn't, and you could not remove her jelly from the jars.
I suggest seeing it on a you-tube video first so you have an idea.
_______________

Yes. I have frozen fresh grapes and they juiced easier after the freezing broke the cell walls down.

I freeze them whole then juice when I have time so they take up less freezer space, then I keep the frozen juice around for jelly, punch, wine -whatever ; and if I do not get around to juicing them, I feed them to the chickens when it is hot.

The problem with self sufficiency is that it requires more time than we usually have.
good thing for freezers!
___________________

My family goes on peanut butter and jelly binges, so it goes in spurts and gurgles.
Sometimes I look at the pantry and think, " I will never have to make another jar of jelly again." Then they will go through five jars in a week.

 

[jerryse]

Here is a idea for starting your own grapes . Take some seeds and plant them . They need to go through the winter to sprout . I have the same problem . The starts they sell are just too small to survive in my clay soil . I grew 3 vines in 5 gallon buckets with moisture control potting mix with the slow release fertilizer . They put on 3-5 foot of new growth and will be planted this fall .
Someone gifted me some concord grapes yesterday . I will eat some and plant the seed . They may not come true to type but edible anyway .Our native summer grape grows from seed everywhere on my place . Small sour and not very productive . I really want seedless table grapes . Trying to learn to graft onto the native stock . Failed so far . The potted vines are seedless red , white , concord .

 

[rancher hicks]

Grapes, especially the concord varieties have a lot of natural pectin, that is why pectinace has to be added to wine to keep it from being cloudy.

I find it to be a bit unnerving because you have to do the spoon sheeting to know when it is done, versus just dumping the pectin in and cooking for the required amount of time.

My mother thought sheeting was something that it obviously wasn't, and you could not remove her jelly from the jars.
I suggest seeing it on a you-tube video first so you have an idea.
_______________

Yes. I have frozen fresh grapes and they juiced easier after the freezing broke the cell walls down.

I freeze them whole then juice when I have time so they take up less freezer space, then I keep the frozen juice around for jelly, punch, wine -whatever ; and if I do not get around to juicing them, I feed them to the chickens when it is hot.

The problem with self sufficiency is that it requires more time than we usually have.
good thing for freezers!
___________________

My family goes on peanut butter and jelly binges, so it goes in spurts and gurgles.
Sometimes I look at the pantry and think, " I will never have to make another jar of jelly again." Then they will go through five jars in a week.

So it will be okay to freeze the juice and then make jelly. It will be okay if I just freeze the grapes whole and then cook up to make jelly? Will it come out the same.

You suggest NOT using any pectin? I'll just follow the recipe as is? I've done the spoon sheeting so I know what that is. It takes skill to recognize when the jelly is at the setting point. Not easy at all.

You say your mother used pectin?

I just want to be sure I understand you correctly.

 

[rancher hicks]

Forgot to day the recipe says to let the juice sit in the fridge over night cuz the juice forms crystals and you want them to settle to the bottom.

I do let my apple juice sit over night and then use double cheese cloth the next day. I like just using the one sheet first and then two. Not that it calls for that. I confess to squeezing the first run though.

I did the same thing for the grape juice only I just used one over night hanging and then two in the morning. I was surprised there wasn't really any residue with the second run.

 

[iawoodchip]

I love those little wild grapes for jelly, far better flavor, to me, than concord.

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
Freezing will not change the quality of the jelly. Yes, freeze them up whole and then cook them later for jelly. It will come out the same.

My mother used pectin AND sheeting. which is why hers never came out. It was like rubber. It made your teeth stick together.

You can use pectin and follow the directions for the jelly in the certo box or sure jel box and it will be fine.
OR
you can use your recipe and the sheeting method because they have enough pectin in them to jell.

I do not like standing over a steaming pot that long, so depending on how tight money is, I would just use the pectin if I had it and get on with the job.

Things were awful for us a few years back and I had to add green apple to everything because I could not afford the pectin.

 

[hennible]

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Using other fruit to thicken your jams and jellies is a great idea 3goodeggs. I think you can use mountain ash berries or save up your apple cores to make your own pecten Anyway today Applebutter and salsa again....

 

[jerryse]

Grandma always cooked her jelly down until it set without added pectin . Mom never would . She said you got too little for the effort .