1st You Take the Grapes & You Squish em...

For several years, my Mom & Dad's grapes have not done well, but this year, thankfully, we have plenty of grapes and I can once again cross off grape jelly from the grocery shopping list! I can proudly say that in the past my grape jelly has taken first place every time I put it in the Holden Fall Fiesta Fair!  My secret is (was, :) ) instead of straining the grape juice with cheesecloth, I use a flour sack towel.  The jelly comes out very translucent this way and that is what the judges love!  This time when I made jelly, it wasn't for a contest, so I didn't strain it at all.  Not straining it, cut down my processing time immensely and I'm sure there are extra vitamins and "good stuff" that didn't get tossed out.  

 I used a combination of white grapes and concord grapes.  I cooked the grapes down and the whole house smelled delicious! (lol, recognize the pot above?  If you look at my cute laundry room blog, it's "home" is on the top shelf and is only allowed to come down on canning days :) )

 After you cook the grapes, you put them through the Foley Food Mill.  As far as food mills go, this one is pretty big, which fits perfectly on my 32 cup Tupperware "That's a Bowl".  In the past, the girls would help me turn the handle on the food mill to "help out" but this time, they helped me stem the grapes.  Stemming the grapes is a pretty sticky, messy job.  I was happy to have the help and they were happy to be in a perfect grape sneaking position. 

 It's funny how, having several years to reflect on my jelly making, made me realize that while I was taking extra time to press out every last bit of the grape through the food mill (see picture above) and then I would pour it through the flour sack towel twice...hmm completely counter active and it only took me like 15 years later to realize it. :)

Instead of making the jelly immediately, I froze the juice and made it a few days later.

Not translucent, but completely delicious!  The recipe comes straight from the Ball cookbook (with my additional hints).

Grape Jelly
5 cups grape juice (about 4 1/2 lbs. of Concord grapes (White Grapes) and 1/2 cup of water)
1 package of powdered pectin
5 cups of sugar

To prepare juice: Select 1/4 firm-ripe and 3/4 fully-ripe grapes. Wash and stem grapes. Crush grapes, add water; cover; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Strain juice through a damp jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth (I didn't do this).  Let juice stand in a cool place for 12 to 24 hours (I just froze the juice and it worked fine); strain again.  Cook the juice and pectin on high heat until boiling (stir the whole time).  Add sugar stirring continually until sugar is dissolved. Boil mixture to a rolling boil and continue to let it boil for one minute. Ladle hot jelly in clean sterile jars. (I timed it just right for the dish washer to finish sterilizing the jars right when the jelly was ready. As soon as I put the jelly in, I skim off the bubbly stuff and wipe the rim of the jar.  Place the two-piece flat and lid tightly on the mouth of the jar and turn upside down. Let it sit upside down for 20 minutes and then flip upright. You should start hearing the tinging of the lids.  This is the jelly's way of saying, "Good job, you at least got it sealed right!"  I made 6 times the amount of the recipe but only added 5 times the sugar.  Wow, 30 cups of sugar...yep, 25 was plenty enough!