No Sour Grapes Here

Several years ago a friend gifted us with a grape vine - a "Southern" sweet muscadine grape.  We planted it and it did absolutely nothing.  It sat in its comfortable little patch of dirt, trained to grow on a split rail fence and looked pretty.  No fruit to speak of, maybe a handful of grapes every year but nothing more.

Then about five years ago I asked my husband to build an arbor for that grape vine.  He did, we removed the fence and trained it to grow on the new structure.  Holy Cow!!  It took off like Moody's Goose - you have heard that, right?  It means fast in southern speak.  That grape vine grew and grew, and it was loaded with grapes.  I felt a little like Jack and the magic bean!  We trim it back every winter and then every spring it is covered in new growth and by summer it is almost beyond control.  We have extended the arbor once and could do so again.  I am talking ONE vine here people.

My Holy Cow Grape Vine

So three nights ago I ventured into the arbor and filled a bowl of this beautiful fruit in just a matter of minutes.  Having made jelly from these sweet grapes before, I decided to make more this year.  Yesterday that is what I did.  It is a simple process and takes less time than one would think.  The important thing is to have all your equipment and ingredients together before you start.  The first step is to get the juice from the fruit.  So after washing the fruit dump it into a large pot and add enough water to bring to a boil.  Use a potato masher to "smush" the fruit as it cooks.  You don't want to cook the water out, but instead mash the fruit and add water if needed.  Then add the fruit to a strainer over a large bowl and let the juice drain.  Mash the fruit to extract more juice.  You can also do this using cheesecloth, but a strainer works fine.  Let it sit to insure you have all the juice.  Now here is the great part...if you don't want to make your jelly after doing this step, then measure your juice, fill freezer bags or containers with it and pop in the freezer until you are ready to
use.  Then just thaw the juice and proceed with the next steps.  My
friend Vickie taught me this trick and I have done it - works beautifully.
But today I finished, so here are the next steps.  Make sure your jelly jars are
clean and keep them hot in a pot of water, or dishwasher.  Put your jar
lids in a pot of simmering water, have a large pot of water hot to place the jars in after filling and sealing.  Measure 5 cups of juice into a clean pot, add 1 tsp. lemon juice,
1 box of powder pectin and stir to dissolve.  Bring to a rolling boil, stirring
constantly.  Add 7 cups (I know) of sugar and stir.  Bring this to a boil and
cook for 1 minute - exactly.  Remove from heat and ladle into jars.  Seal
and place jars in a water bath making sure they are covered and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove and
wait for that "pop" to know your jars are sealed.  If one does not seal - put
it in the refrigerator to use first.  

 This jelly is great with biscuits, toast or if you want to use it as
an appetizer, put out a plate of crackers, blue cheese and a dish of this.  The sweet jelly with the tartness of the cheese is amazing!

You can readily purchase muscadine grapes at the grocery this time of year, but growing your own fruit and then using it this way is rewarding! 

And to think, all it took was an arbor!