Grape Juice

I spent the day making grape juice. I was a little nervous to do it because it seemed like such an intensive process. I looked for recipes on the internet and found most of them to be quite consuming. Some of the steps included picking each grape off the stem and then mashing them. I borrowed my Mom's steam juicer and decided to give it a try.

I started by putting the grapes in a sink full of water. I wanted the dry leaves and loose stems to float to the top, so I could easily remove them. I also wanted the spiders and other bugs to come out. I then put them, stems and all, in the strainer portion of the steamer and set it on the stove to cook. After they steamed for awhile, I mashed the grapes with a potato masher to extract any additional juice. It took about 1 1/2 hours per batch. I made close to 8 quarts of juice.

I decided to freeze the juice. I saw a great idea for freezing liquids in last month's Better Homes and Gardens. I put 3 cups of juice in a quart sized freezer bag and laid it on a cookie sheet so once they freeze I can easily stack them, or stand them in the freezer doors.

The juice tastes wonderful and the house smells like concord grapes.

I put a towel down to protect the floor. Ellie thought it was a great place to lay.

The grapes I used were from my Dad's yard. The vines he and my Mom planted a couple of years ago really took off this year. The concord grape clusters were beautiful. He delivered them to me earlier this week. He also brought some of the apples from the yard. The way he packaged them made me think he had purchased them at a gourmet grocery store. I may try making apple juice next week.