Wild Grape Jelly

Wild Grape Jelly

  Near our town is a wild life area that used to be farms and as a result there are many, many apple trees and also grape vines. All have gone wild now but still produce an abundance of fruit that is free for the taking. As a bonus it is pesticide free!  So, I picked SEVERAL big bags of apples (more on that later) and picked a big bowl of the wild grapes.
  Wild grapes are quite small and tart. They are also super dark! The jelly I made looks almost black! To make it I washed the grapes and then plucked them from the stems. (wearing gloves to avoid purple fingers) ~smile~ Then I put them in a sieve and tried pressing them to strain out the juice. That did not work! So I had to get my gloved hand right in there and squeeze them and squeeze them. There was a lot of juice from these little grapes but it was super thick, even after I strained it through cheesecloth. My jelly came out very thick.

To make the jelly I used Redpath Quickset for jam.

 I use this for all my jams and jellies and it works so well - very quick and so simple to use. All you do is put the required amount of juice in a pot add the quick set and some lemon juice, stir and boil for a few minutes and that is it! Couldn't be easier!

 I added a bit of unsweetened apple juice to the grape juice to get the needed amount of liquid but you cannot taste it at all.

 So that was my wild grape adventure - now I have to deal with all the apples I have waiting for me in the kitchen!

Blessings,

Liisa