xtron
Cool Member
Posts: 96
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:20 pm
Location: christiansburg virginia

grape jelly

the brother-in-law's father has a concord grape vine that produces huge amounts of grapes. yesterday I picked a 5 gallon bucket full and barely made a dent in the crop.
so today I am making grape jelly.
the first batch I followed the sure jel reduced sugar recipie...5 pounds of grapes...it turned out good. 7 half pints, low sugar goodness.

the next batch I am usinf my grandmothers long cook method, out of her cook book, which was printed in 1936 as the companies 75th aneversery. so some of those reicipies go back to the civil war.
you cook the grapes for 30 minutes, strain, measure the juice and add 1 1/3 cups of sugar for each cup of juice. you do not heat the mix, and it sits for 36 hours before going in jars.
I am assuming the grapes are suppose to have enough pectin to cause jelling and the long cook method triggers the pectin.

I did strawberry jam using the same method earlier this year and it worked good.
I'll let you know how this batch turns out in a couple of days

does anyone else use long cook jelly method, or any other really old recipies??

User avatar
ID jit
Green Thumb
Posts: 339
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:00 am
Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.

You can keep fresh strawberries around long enough to make jelly or jam?

What's the trick?

jeff84
Senior Member
Posts: 151
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:38 pm
Location: southwest indiana

ID jit wrote:You can keep fresh strawberries around long enough to make jelly or jam?

What's the trick?

pick enough all at once, not to be a smart a** but that is the only way I know. but also you can use less than premium fruits for jams. so long as they aren't moldy they are good, don't matter if they are bruised or over ripe. all you need is juice, and they use all the less than desireable looking fruits to make juice

xtron
Cool Member
Posts: 96
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:20 pm
Location: christiansburg virginia

well, lost track of time...
I let the jelly sit an extra day hoping it would jell a little more, but it was still thin....think apple butter..
so I jarred and sealed it.
don't think I will use this method for grapes again.

User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

The Long Cook Method is also a wine makers trick. Cooking out the water concentrates the pectin, it also concentrates the fruit flavor. Seeds are bitter they should be removed before cooking or making wine. Skins have color and flavor they should be cooked with the juice. My Grandmother use to cook the grape juice for about 2 hours maybe longer, she would scoop up some juice in a BIG spoon and pour it back to see how thick the liquid looked. When she though the liquid looked thick enough she poured some hot juice into a cold cast iron skillet so it would cool down fast. Pour the cold juice into a coffee cup then drop in an egg. This is a whole egg in the shell. If the egg floats in the juice it is ready to make jelly. Clean the egg put it back into the refrigerator. Recipe calls for a certain amount of sugar, grandmother did sugar to taste method she said, the less sugar you add the better fruit flavor the jelly will have. When the jelly cools for 24 hours it should jell. Grandmother always made JAM it is soft jelly it is very easy to spread on bread and it never gets solid like jello. If jelly does not jell boil away more water then let it cool again. There is a lot of trial and error to the old way of making jelly. Once grandmother had jam the correct thickness she brought it to a boil 1 last time then poured it into mason jars right up to almost the very top. Put the seal and ring on each jar, tighten very tight then stand it upside down and a dry dish towel on the counter top. Next day jars are cool and ready to put in the pantry.

Grandmother had grapes on a 4 foot tall Pig wire fence about 60 ft feet long in the back yard they were always ripe in August. Squeeze the grape the insides will squirt out. Save the skins then squeeze the pulp to remove the seeds. Boil pulp, skins, juice together. Pour off juice to make jelly. When grandmother got older she stopped doing the old method and started buying Sure-Gel she did not want to spend 3 days making grape jam.

Many years ago about 40, I tied the long cook method if the liquid in the jars was too thin it made great pancake syrup. If you get a room temperature jar of jelly from the pantry then put it in the refrigerator cold temperature makes it get thicker. If you open a jar of thin jelly and want the jelly thicker boil away some water put it back into the jar then keep it in the refrigerator.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Yes, I make a lot of different jellies. If for some reason it doesn't jell right, then it is syrup! :D

gumbo2176
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3065
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:01 am
Location: New Orleans

rainbowgardener wrote:Yes, I make a lot of different jellies. If for some reason it doesn't jell right, then it is syrup! :D
I have had, for some unknown reason to me, my pepper jelly sometimes not fully set like I prefer, even though using the same recipe that had it set. What I do with it is use it as a meat rub when I smoke pork or chicken to kick up the flavor and add a bit of sweetness and just a tinge of heat.

It also works well in the place of BBQ sauce, but I like to thin it just like I do BBQ sauce so it doesn't burn on the meat. I'll cook the chicken at least 3/4 of the way through and then start adding the watered down sauce and slather it on every time I turn the meat. That way it never burns like I've seen some folks do when they BBQ. This is especially true for the jelly since it has much more sugar then BBQ sauce.



Return to “Canning - Preserving - Recipes”