It’s harvest season around here! :) Everything that can be canned, blanched, frozen or stored for the winter is in our kitchen or in a recipe that is floating around in my brain! We are in deep to our creative ideas for what we can store for the winter months! SO, on a walk a few weeks ago, Katie (our lovely housemate right now) found some wild grapes growing at a nearby cemetery! :) We tasted. They were sour, but the idea immediately came for some wild grape jelly.
I have never been a HUGE fan of store-bought jellies or jams simply because they tend to be overly sweet and lack in flavor. And to be honest, I haven’t made any jellies or jams in YEARS, so we sought out to find the *best* grape jelly recipe that we could find. Preferably one that didn’t have much sugar (these grapes were SURE to have great flavor and we didn’t want to mask it with cups and cups of sugar)! :)
And we found it! :) We adapted this recipe for our needs and here our adapted one listed below! I can ASSURE YOU that it’s amazing and so tasty! After three batches we already are on the hunt for more grapes around the neighborhood! :)
THE NO SUGAR GRAPE JELLY! :) YUM!
Ingredients:
10 cups of grapes (off the stems and vine)
1 apple (we used a sweeter apple because our grapes were VERY tart…so choose your apple according to how sweet you want the finished jelly)
2 cups of sugar
1. Put the grapes and apples, along with a 1/2 cup of water, in a large pot. Cover, and bring to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes so that it ends up being very juice (your house will smell AMAZING)! :)
2. Strain the juice through a large sieve or small-holed strainer. We pressed the grapes (and seeds) against the strainer to get the most juice amount out of the each little grape!
(our leftover grape mush after extracting the juice)
3. Pour the extracted juice into a large saucepan, add the sugar. Keep the pan over medium heat and keep stirring. This is the part of the process that you boil most of the liquid off to form the “jelly” consistency. Keep over heat for about 20-25 minutes, or until the juice thickens up considerably. You will know it is ready when you insert a cold spoon into the mixture and it “falls off” in a sheet-like way from the spoon.
4. Pour jelly into hot, sterilized jelly jars! :) Fill each jar about 1/4 inch from the top rim. Place (preheated) caps and canning rings on the jars. Submerge the jars into a pot of water and boil for 5 minutes to seal. Remove from heat and let cool. Any jars that haven’t sealed after completely cooling, should be refrigerated and used first! :)
ENJOY! :) I can’t wait to try this with more fruits….maybe next year we should plan a pear tree?! :)
Wonderful recipe and it worked like a charm. I did simmer the juice a bit longer. I imagine there is some variation related to local humidity and the contents of the grapes. Thanks so much for this post!!!
Can I make this grape jelly without adding any sugar or sweetener? Do you remove the apple at the end or is it suppose to be chopped up and remain in jelly? I’m trying recipes that don’t require ANY sweetener as many fruits are sweet enough by themselves. Thanks, Cubby
Just started following you, new to this blood business. Attempted your wild grape jelly and it was perfect! I have been noticing a trend in natural plant/herb medical plants. I get that these exist but would love to know how and the process used to utilize them! Thanks girl. Keep doing what your doing. It’s a breath of fresh air!
If I was to use a juicer for the grapes and apple, will the jelly be as consistency?
I just finished up canning this so im not sure how it set up yet, but oh my I want to put grape jelly on everything its so delicious. I may jut have to throw a loaf of home made bread in the oven to go with this and my moms home made nut butter. My son has his first pre school field trip in a few weeks to the pumpkin patch and I think this will be part of our sack lunch.
What kind of grapes did you use? I’m very excited to try this!
I was wonderly how much juice do you get ?
We are making this exactly like the recipe but it is not getting thick. I know you said continue cooking until the juice thickens considerably but it is now at 55 minutes.
We are thinking of making a 2nd batch but this time using pectin.
Any help idead?
Thank you for your recipe. We have tons of Concord grapes from a local farmer and we used a steam pot to extract the juice. How many cups of juice did you get from the 10 cups of grapes approximately? Since I already have the juice I need to know the about how to convert for the sugar and water amounts/ratios.
My first time making fresh grape juice from Concord grapes ; I don’t care for really sweet jams or jelly’s ; I’ve had fruit spread very low sugar content and I can’t find a recipe for either
What happens if it doesn’t set? I made it earlier this afternoon and it still looks loose.
How many jars does this make approximately?
This is my 2and or 3rd year in a row to make this recipe.
I’m not sure of the grape variety, but I have not figured out how to get it cooked down to fall off the cold spoon. I cooked and stirred for 45 minutes today, and finally put the goodness in jars. So, it will be a little more runny than what comes from the store, but I still love the simplicity & Low Sugar component of this recipe.
I didn’t cook my jelly long enough!
Just took it out of canner and it runny!
Should I or can I recook?
I have the fresh juice… how many cups of juice would I need for this recipe?