Feeling Grape-y...

I was contacted on Thursday last week by the lady who sold us Concord Grapes last year. As I left then, I told her to keep me in mind moving forward, as I'd always be happy to buy them from her. She remembered and sent a text to me. Handsome and I picked fifteen pounds of grapes up from her the same day.

I didn't want to make grape jam on Friday, because I knew I'd be on my feet at work and wanted to take it easy before I had to go in. Saturday after work, I spent much of the day resting with my leg elevated and on ice. I really was so happy to be back to work, but it's apparent I still need to take it easy for now.

So, yesterday was time to make jam so these gorgeous grapes wouldn't go bad (Handsome kept them safe in his air conditioned drum room). I began at noon by squeezing pulp out of the grapes and setting the skins into another bowl. It's not hard work, but it's tedious...one or two grapes at a time...for fifteen pounds. sigh

I prepared two double batches, cleaning up dishes (with Handsome's help) in between. In the end, I had fifteen half pint jars (one went into the fridge right away), and five pints. I also had a stove that looked like a jam bomb had gone off on it, and a floor to clean up from the bubbling jam. I had the last of my cleanup completed at 10:37 pm exactly.

I'd say that was a full day, and I did mention to Handsome that I wouldn't be making any more jam this year. I may, however contact my lady again to get more grapes to make juice. Or not. Today, I'm thinking "or not".

I have physical therapy this morning, and I'm taking the bridal brooch with me for Jenna. I'll see if I can't get her photo with it to share with you tomorrow. For now, I'd better close and get ready to leave. See you later!

Grape Jam...

It took most of the day on Sunday, but I ended up with these beautiful jars of homemade Concord grape jam by dinnertime. Plus, there is still about six pounds of grapes to make juice.

The process for grape jam is labor intense. First you have to squeeze the pulp out of the skins (2 at a time for me), reserving the skins in another bowl. Eight pounds of grapes is a lot of squeezing! Once that's done, the grape pulp is heated until it's tender. Then all of that is put through a chinois to remove the seeds and solids.

While that cooking is going on, the skins are run through a food processor to chop them up. Then they're placed into another pot with about a 1/4 cup of water an cooked down for twenty minutes. After the skins are cooked down, they're added to the pulp, along with sugar, and cooked down until the mixture reaches 220º F. By the time that process is complete, it will be necessary to mop the floor, clean the stovetop, and any adjacent countertops, because the process of boiling down the jam results in what resembles Mt. Vesuvius erupting.

Handsome was my taste-tester while the cooking was going on, and when I'd finished putting all the jam into jars, he made toast to support the last of the jam left in the cooking pot. He immediately declared the jam a winning recipe!

By bedtime, all the jars had sealed and cooled. I'd labeled them, and carefully placed them into the "jelly/jam section" of the pantry...with quite the feeling of accomplishment. I'll process the rest of the grapes in the next day or two.

This week is going to be busy. Handsome has appointments (remember, I'm the chauffeur); I work on Tuesday and Friday evening; this week is our monthly classmate dinner (and one of the guys would like two trays of cinnamon rolls again. Isn't that cute?); I need to make bread; and Saturday is Craft Day in Portage. I know I'll get good sleep when I can.

So, tell me. How is your week looking?

Concord Grapes...

Facebook Marketplace again for the win! I made grape jam when we first moved into the farmhouse, but my two sources dried up and I've been unable to find more (locally) ever since. I've been searching online for Concord grapes, but all I could find were at least an hour away...until Thursday night. It turns out there was a prolific grape arbor in the backyard of a family within twenty minutes of the farmhouse!

I asked for fifteen pounds, which was waiting for us when we arrived. Handsome and I had a conversation with a lovely young woman who said she had much more than she would ever use for the grape juice she cans. She also said she'd hang onto my name for future years.

These grapes are beautiful, tasty, and will be the basis of multiple jars of grape goodness that I'll can up this weekend. If you've never had fresh grape jam, you don't know what you're missing. It in no way resembles the factory-produced jam you find on the grocery shelves. This is fresh, and the grape flavor almost punches you in the face! (The whole house smells like a Welch's factory, too!) Handsome loves jams and jellies, and he's been talking about me making jam ever since we got them home. I'll share photos of the finished jars on Monday.

Gosh, I love my (our) life here in the farmhouse. Here's wishing all of you a wonderful, restful weekend.