You will be surprised at how easy it is to make & can grape juice. The taste is outstanding and will be better than anything you’ve ever had from the store. I’m not one to go on and on about something, but this grape juice is just. . . perfection. Drink it plain or add some ginger ale to it. You won’t be disappointed!
This summer our concord grape vines did exceptionally well, and we were blessed to harvest quite a load from them. Sometimes I get an August burn out from all the gardening and canning I’ve done, but these grapes were the pick up I needed. For under 30 minutes of work, I got some of the best tasting grape juice we’ve ever had.
Equipment/ingredients you’ll need for making grape juice
- Glass quart canning jars + lids and rims
- a large pot that is large & tall enough to fit the jars of grapes and allow them to be covered in water for the water bath
- Grapes
- White sugar
And that’s it!
Step by Step Instructions
Start by picking all the grapes off the clusters and pulling the little stems off of each one. Wash them off well. Fill clean quart jars about halfway with grapes.
Add 1/3 cup of white sugar to each jar (I used organic cane sugar- for those of you who may want to know). Next fill the jars up with water, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a vinegar cloth to make sure everything is clean, then screw the lids on.
Place jars in a large pot on the stove. Fill the pot up with water till the jars are about 2 inches under the water. Turn the burner on high and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, set your timer for the amount of time that is required for a water bath at your altitude. Keep the water at a steady boil throughout that whole time. For my altitude it was 15 minutes, but be sure to check the USDA website. Once the water bath time is up, remove the jars from the water and let them sit undisturbed for at least 12 hours to cool and seal. . . unless you want to drink some really hot grape juice!
Sealed, these will easily store on the shelf for up to a year. Once you open a jar you’ll want to keep it in the fridge and drink it within a few days. But that shouldn’t be too hard 😉
Homemade grape juice tastes amazing on its own, but you can boost it a bit by adding some carbonated water or ginger ale. During the winter, enjoying this treat is definitely going to take me back to those warm summer days of picking grapes.
Leave a Reply