With all the health benefits of grapes, it’s really no wonder red wine makes its way to tables across the world. According to Worlds Healthiest Foods:
Grapes and products made from grapes, such as wine and grape juice, may protect the French from their high-fat diets. Yet, French people with these habits have a lower risk of heart attack than Americans do. One clue that may help explain this “French paradox” is their frequent consumption of grapes and red wines.
To learn more about all of the health benefits in grapes, make sure to check out Worlds Healthiest Foods.
I was so blessed to have been given a cooler filled with freshly picked Concord Grapes. As you can see in the image above, the color is a dark blue/purple and the smell is unbelievable. Sweet as candy! As soon as I smelled the grapes, I knew right away that I wanted to enjoy the grapes as naturally as I could. Unfortunately, concord grapes, have very large seeds making them difficult to eat raw. So the next best thing was to make grape juice to drink and preserve.
Homemade Grape Juice from Concord Grapes
Ingredients:
- Concord Grapes
Method:
- Fill a large pot 2/3 full with concord grapes.
- Add water to barely cover the grapes.
- When the water comes to a boil, start mashing the grapes in the pot with a potato masher.
- Lower the heat and let the grapes simmer for five minutes.
- After 5 minutes, mash the grapes again.
- Continue to simmer for an additonal 5 minutes.
- Transfer the grape juice and all of it’s pulp into a jelly bag.
- Let the juice seperate from the pulp for 20- 30 minutes. Once this time has passed, with a spoon, mix the pulp in the jellybag in order to squeeze out any remaining juice.
- Fill quart jars with the juice and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
At this point you can discard the remaining pulp by compost or backyard chickens, however, seeing that the pulp was still a bright purple and smelled so sweet, I decided to be frugal and give it another round to make juice for jelly! The juice for the jelly is not as sweet as the first round for juice. However, with an added sweetener, it will turn out perfect 🙂
Juice for Grape Jelly
- Return it to the pot and add 6 cups of water. Bring the water and pulp to a boil and thoroughly mix through. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Return pulp to the jelly bag and let the juice seperate from the pulp for 20-30 minutes.
- You can either use this juice to make jelly now or freeze the juice to make jelly another day.
I had originally made juice in two batches. I saved all of the pulp and added 12 cups of water, enough for 2 batches of grape jelly. I froze my juice to make on a rainy day 😉
Oh! I would never have imagined. How fabulous!
Oh man, how cool! I never hardly purchase grapes – all that you find here are the run-of-the-mill grocery store ones, white and red. Boring! It would be cool to get Concord grapes or fancy wine-making grapes! Maybe I just need to look harder!
Wow! That is intense and gorgeous grape juice. Lovely photos!
That looks amazing! Yum!
have you ever used the pulp to make grape must
Oh my this is sooo cool! Love the photos.
Great pictures ! . I loved the juice recipe and I assure you I'll prepare it for my family 🙂
Wow you're so good at REALLY making things "from home"! I love it and am inspired every time I read your blog!
oh wow your a wealth of knowledge, when do you need the fridge pic by the way i am in FL next week and trying to empty it maybe next month would be better for me lol Rebecca
that's very cool! I love fresh grape juice, it tastes so much better than the bottled stuff
This is FAB! And jelly bag. The first Ive seen it. Thanks for sharing!
Wonderful recipe. My mom used to make a lot of juice to make jelly. I didn't appreciate jams and jellies back then, but I do now… 🙂
Absolutely fantastic. Just look at the color of the grape juice. Beautiful.
So simple never thought of it. Loved the blog…thank you for sharing!
Thank you Diana for sharing all this recipes!!!!
Great post! Homemade is always the best and it looks so delicious.
Diana,
What a great technique. I made fresh juice from cabernet grapes once but I wish I would have thought to boil and "can" for later consumption. It looks divine…and healthy!
Cheers!
Gorgeous!! I absolutely LOVE homemade grape juice…it's the best….that flavor! I always throw everything into compost after, but I'm going to try making jelly next time…thanks! After I make my pies, that is 😉
Fantastic way to use grape 😉
Last week I dried black grapes & also made jam.
when I have grape this week will try the juice.
Gorgeous photos 🙂
zainab 😀
Congrats on the top 9! I also just passed on a "blogger award" to you on my last post! 🙂
Diana,
You are so clever..just look at those grape juice…fantastic and I wish grapes over here are cheap. Normally we eat them fresh 🙂 Thanks for sharing and Congrats on Top 9! :)))
very nice recipe and so is the rest of your blog, love the photos, i am going to stay around for a while,
cheers from a spanish in london,
pity
I love your photos!!
hola !
THis is PIerre from France ; I remember doing this juice in my childhood in the south of France ! thanks for the sahring !!
and if you like French creative food come and see my blog you are very welcome :: CHeers Pierre
Nice. I so enjoyed making apple cider this fall. Next year I'll be on the lookout for local sources of grapes, too!
Everyone, thank you so much for the comments! As always, un abrazo fuerte!!
Wow, looks truly delicious and the pictures are amazing!!!!!!!!!
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
Diana what a beautiful post. The pics are stunning & now I want a big glass of grape juice 🙂
It was very interesting for me to read the post. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more soon.
Oh my…this is our first year of harvesting grapes – critters devoured them the past two years. My husband suggested making chutney and juice. The chutney was very time-consuming for what we ended up with but… is delicious so we shall keep that recipe (from another source). I pushed back on juice as the only way I’d seen recipes called for sugar; yours seemed to make the most ‘sense’ so we gave it a go! It is incredible, almost the consistency of concentrate. I canned 3 pints and froze 5 pints. Thanks so much for a no sugar option that is wonderful!
I’m glad to hear that!