Grapes

My friend Morning, the kids and I went out to my dad's property again this week and picked grapes. Most of them were gone, but in the section of vines that was still unpicked the grapes were at least as thick as the leaves. Amazing.

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The grapes were starting to mold on the vine, so we picked as many of the good ones as we could. We filled the turkey roaster, my big stock pot, a huge soup toureen, and a few other containers. We also filled a couple of big tupperware containers with apples.

I've been spending every spare moment the last few days sorting and washing grapes. I made one batch of jam, but had to refrigerate it uncanned since my old canner turned out to be too corroded to use. Another batch of grapes I cooked and put through the food mill, but haven't cooked down into jam yet. I'll be making one more batch of jam out of the cracked-but-still-good grapes, and then the rest of the perfect grapes I'm going to can as just plain juice.

Making jam without sugar or pectin takes a lot more cooking and gives a smaller yield, but the flavor is rich and the jam is eventually thickening beautifully. I think that, technically, what I'm making is grape butter. It's satisfying to know that I did it myself and that there's absolutely nothing but grapes in it.

I spent most of today driving from store to store trying to find a flat-bottomed hot water canner to buy. I finally found one at the 6th or 7th store I tried--in the clearance section at about 75% off the original price. :) I'd bought a food mill, the Ball Blue book, and some other canning supplies earlier in the week, so I think I'm finally all set now.

Once the jam is done, I'll be making applesauce. We'll probably go back and pick more apples and can some apple juice and apple jelly or jam as well. I think the apples will be a lot easier because they're much easier to skin and de-seed.

I had no idea this would be so labor-intensive, but hopefully we'll get some good canned goods out of it. The jam will certainly be cheaper than the expensive corn-free fruit preserves we usually buy. :)

Now I must get back to work.