This was our first harvest of Concord grapes since planting our vines, so it was purposefully small as I cut off about half of the initial grape clusters to aid in the growth and vigor of the young vine.
I have been checking on the progress of these grapes all summer; stealing a grape or two, in passing, as they ripened. Boy, what intense flavor in just one little grape - full essence of Concord!
Yesterday, I discovered small bumblebees sucking the juice out of my grapes - I took this as a sure sign that the grapes were ripe and ready for harvest. I immediately cut off all the purple clusters, leaving a few of the green/reddish bunches - the bees could have these.
Jelly or jam? I decided on jam due to the limited harvest. I needed all the grape I could muster to get the required six cups of processed grapes. Plus, jam takes less time - no need to wait for the juices to filter through a cheesecloth.
I picked each grape off the stems, washed them, and pulverized them in my food processor before putting them into the pot for cooking. Adding the pectin, a sliver of butter, plenty of sugar; I stirred constantly to a full boil, then ladled the hot reddish-purple and so grapey an aroma into half-pint jars and placed them into a hot water bath as the final step. (Or is the final step eating?) Yield was suppose to be 9 jars, I ended up with 12. Go figure....I usually end up with less than the amount stated, so I felt I was ahead this go around. Coming out of the hot water bath, the jam had turned, as if by magic, its recognizable deep purple color. And, I thought Welch's just added food coloring.
There was just enough of the jam left, that did not make it into a jar, to taste test on several slices of rye bread - yummy! I am glad for those extra 3 jars now.
Next year, we should have a large enough harvest to make not only more jam, but wine, too! Watch out Mogan David....
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