Concord Grape Jelly

I think my jelly was successful. I won't know till the jars cool and I can see if they have sealed properly but I think it all went well. That's the thing about home canning... I've done it a few times and things have always gone well but then you start to watch a show like Good Eats and it makes you feel like there's a one in a million shot that whatever you've canned will end up being safe to eat when you pull it out of the cupboard in a couple of months! Don't get me wrong, their intense attention to detail can be great if you want to know every little thing about a subject but let's face it - most of our grandmothers or great grandmothers spent the better part of their summers putting up preserves, pickles, fruits & veggies of all dimension. That was the main way they could have fruits and vegetables all year round. It's really easy to do.

That being said - here's a recipe for Concord Grape Jelly. A reader asked when concord grapes would be available and according to The Concord Grape Association these grapes are harvested in the fall between September and October. Here are a couple of great resources for everything you could want to know about the Concord grape:
The National Grape Cooperative
The Concord Magazine
The International Jelly & Preserve Association

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs. Concord grapes
½ -1 cup honey or ¾ -2 cups sugar
4 tsp. Pectin powder
4 tsp. Calcium water

Method

1) Put the rinsed grapes in a sauce pot with about a ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
2) Remove from the heat and strain into a clean bowl. You can store the puree at this point in the refrigerator until you're ready to make the jelly.
3) When you're ready and you've pre-boiled your jars and lids to make sure they're sterile, you're ready to make the jelly.
4) Pour the grape puree into a sauce pan and add the calcium water. Mix thoroughly.
5) In a separate bowl measure out your honey or sugar and add pectin powder. Mix thoroughly.
6) Bring the puree to a boil and add the sugar/pectin mixture and stir vigorously to make sure it all dissolves. Once it has returned to the boil remove from the heat.
7) Using a canning funnel (wide mouth**) fill the sterilized jars to a ½ inch from the top.
8) Screw on the two-piece lids and put the jars into a pot of boiling water to cover. Boil for 5 minutes and then remove.
9) Check the seals by pressing the center. If it pops up it didn't seal properly and you should keep it in the refrigerator and use it within three weeks. Otherwise the lids should be sucked down tight and once cool you can store them at room temperature in a dark cupboard.

Yield: 4-5 cups

As I usually make jam and not jelly I did a lot of research to find the easiest jelly recipe I could find and after a few hours on the internet I decided to use the one on the package of pectin. It's Pomona's Universal Pectin and it 100% pure citrus pectin.

**It seems that canning supplies can be hard to come by these days so if you're in the Montclair NJ vicinity you can get everything you need at American Royal Hardware at 251 Park Street - tell 'em Cat sent ya!

Comments

[Cat]

Hi Brock,
If you are using Pomona's Pectin you'll see a packet in the box for making the calcium water. It's part of the jelling process when you use this pectin. Pomona's is all natural - no added sugars or preservatives.

Happy Canning!
Cat

[Brock]

Cat-

What is calcium water? Do you just mean hard water? Or is there some special preparation of calcium water I don't know about?

Thanks!
Brock

["Where in Montclair?"]

A photo of Cat is running in The Montclair Times this week (the issue dated Sept. 16).

See (Business) page C8.