Bringin' in the Grapes..
It's Harvest Time at the Sanctuary- the waning Summer stoicly bares her last fruits. Poppop always said, "there's just not enough hours in the day to do all that needs done.." So true! Though, the mild days and cool nights make quick work of thinning out the Gardens.
The Arbors are wilting and browning as the last of our fresh, sweet Grapes are plucked and eaten by foraging wildlife and the kids next door (our cousins). Their grinning faces and purple lips say it all- the Grapes have been absolutely DELICIOUS this year!
The Grape Harvest yielded about 12 gallons to be processed into Jelly and Juice. We overfilled two 5gal buckets with cluster upon cluster of these ripe, juicy sweet gems! However, due to a Jar shortage- we had to leave roughly 10 gallons hanging on the vines...to be gleaned by the children and critters of the Sanctuary! (they aren't wasted, no worries- the grapes that fall will feed the earth for next season..)
Our well established Concord Grapevines are over 30 yrs old! Although a wee bit overgrown- they produce deep, dark purple fruits that are very sweet with just a hint of sour on the finish.
We began the processing by hand sorting and de-stemming the fruit- sorting out any blemished, shriveled, funky, rotten or under ripe grapes for the compost pile. Next, we rinse and drain.
Once the grapes have been prepared, we fill a stockpot 3/4 full of Grapes and add just enough water to just cover them, then onto the stove, over medium heat. Heat the Grapes for about 10-15 minutes, stir gently to distribute the heat. The juice in the pot is now a darkening, rich purple. At this point, it is time to dig out the handy potato masher!
Use your masher to pulverize the Grapes into pulpy, grapey goodness. This precious mash can then be transferred spoonful by lovely spoonful to an eagerly awaiting Jelly bag. Drain off as much Grape Juice as possible without squeezing the bags...(if you squeeze- the resultant juice will be cloudy and slightly bitter).
>One bucket of Grapes gave us 13 1/2 quarts of deep, flavorful Juice!
With all this juice, it was hard to resist getting creative and trying a couple of Jelly Experiments... We made about 50 pints of Concord Grape Jelly, 2 pints of Sangria Jelly, and put up 3 quarts of all-natural Grape Juice...we also made a batch of Lemon Verbena Jelly that is euphoric and blissful..
