Homemade Wild Grape Jelly
Classic jelly made from wild grapes has a rich, deep grape flavor and is one of the best things to make with your harvest. Makes 7 cups or half pint jars.
Servings: 80 servings
Calories: 46kcal
Cost: 5
Equipment
- Large, heavy bottomed pot (2 gallon capacity, at least 10 inches wide.) you can use a 1 gallon size pot for a half batch, the wider the better.
- Strainer
- Cheesecloth
- Potato masher
- Canning jars with lids
Ingredients
- 32 oz (4 cups) wild grape juice (you’ll need about 5 lbs of grapes)
- 1 cup water
- 8 teaspoons powdered apple pectin full strength, such as Ball Classic Fruit Pectin
- 28 oz (4 cups) sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or from concentrate
- ½ tsp unsalted butter to reduce foam
Instructions
Harvest the grapes
- Remove the grapes from the vine in whole clusters using a scissors.
Juice the Grapes
- Put the grapes in a large pot and mash them.
- Add the water so the grapes are nearly covered. If your grapes are larger than Vitis riparia, or you're using a steam juicer you may not need much water, if any. Bring the pot to a simmer cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Strain the grape juice while still warm through cheesecloth, squeezing out the excess. Save scrap for making wild grape vinegar.
Make the Jelly
- Put small metal pie plate or other thin surface over a bowl of ice for a set test.
- Mix the pectin and sugar. Whisk the grape juice and sugar mixture, add the butter, bring to a rolling boil on high heat and until it starts to hover around 220F, skimming off any foam. Do not turn the heat down while cooking. If the jelly threatens to overflow your pot is too small.
Set Tests
- Here’s where the intuition comes in. Right after the jelly passes 220F, spoon a ½ teaspoon of jelly into the chilled metal bowl to test the set, if it holds it’s shape around the edge and doesn't run like water anymore it’s ready, if not, continue cooking a bit. Drips off of the spoon should hesitate to fall, which is known as sheeting.
- I'm usually confident in the set around 223-225F, although if the grapes are cooked with their seeds to make juice (which add natural pectin) it can set around 220F. When the jelly holds it's shape dropped on a chilled plate, turn off the heat and beat in the lemon juice.
Storing
- Pour the jelly into sterilized pint or half pint jars screw on the lids. Process the jars in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Sometimes I don't waterbath can them as they're high in acid and very safe.
Video
Notes
Jelly Didn't Set
Pour the jelly back into the pot, add an additional ½ cup water and 2 additional teaspoons of powdered pectin mixed with ½ cup water. Bring it back to a rolling boil, do set tests again and repeat the process.
Pectin
I use Cuisine Tech brand, which is a full-strength pectin used by chefs, but your favorite, full-strength powdered fruit pectin should work. However, you'll probably need to use 6-8 teaspoons for the recipe. I don’t use pectin that contain sugar or dextrose which has a flavor I don't like and I don't use liquid pectin like Sure-Jell or Pomona's.
Tartaric Acid
If you have time, allow the juice to settle overnight and pour it into a fresh jar, leaving any tartaric acid on the bottom. This is optional.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 46kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 0.04g | Fat: 0.05g | Saturated Fat: 0.003g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.003g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 0.04g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.04mg