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Diana, Thanks for the info! I have a 50/50 shot every time I try to make jam or jelly. The article was very beautifully done, informative, and much needed! It's a keeper, so I'm printing this as reference for my next jelly making adventure.
Hi, I'm glad to hear you found my story and recipe helpful.
It is really a lot of fun to make jelly. After you get a batch of basic grape jelly successfully made, you may find yourself graduating to an advanced level and trying more unusual jelly recipes like Dave's Garden member, 'Darius' makes.
She has posted recipes that include: sweet woodruff, dandelion, kudzu blossom, violet, sassafras, lemon rosemary, and lemon verbena jelly! Next year I hope to try one of those, as well as watermelon jelly :)
I know here on the East coast our grape harvest is past, but out West the harvest is expected to continue until the end of October. Hopefully others will find the recipe helpful and save it for future reference too.
I only ever make cranberry sauce/jelly, which jells every time, no matter how much sugar I use or don't use! Gotta love cranberries - which are just coming into season. Go buy some; so few of us have our own bush or bog these days. Here is a link to my (edited to add old) article http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/315/
Cranberries are unique in the sense that they are really high in good quality pectin and low in pH (around 2.7 to 2.9). Other than to counter their tart taste, cranberry jellies are best with below 60 percent sugar concentration for the mixture to gel. Because you can keep them frozen, cranberries are also convenient.
You can also freeze grapes when you don't have time to make jelly at harvest time. I regret not freezing our grapes this season. By the time we picked them, a lot of ripe grapes had fallen to the ground! Our ants and birds were happy this year though!
The one time batch of grape jelly I made was better than Welch's. We didn't have time to mess with the grapes, other than cleaning, so we froze them for a few months. I swear I think the ice crystals softened the skins releasing more color and flavor!
If all else fails, and your jelly doesn't gel, it makes fantastic fruit syrup to put over waffles. My first batch of blackberry jelly didn't set, but everyone raved over the gourmet fruit syrup. It's all in the spin. LOL
My favorite type of preserve to make (and eat!) is a cranberry-grape marmalade. It has a great balance of sweet and tart, and the pectin from the cranberries helps it set up every time.
Thanks for a great article! Clear directions and really helpful photos, too!
I've had pretty good luck too with cranberries. And would you believe we are STILL working our way through the unset Jelly 'fruit sauce' from way back when. There must have been just enough sugar to preserve it, because it never spoiled.
Thanks for reminding me. I'll have to dig a jar out of the pantry and put it in the fridge so it gets used to top Vanilla frozen yogurt or for pancakes or waffles, like you mentioned. My husband also likes to use it in a Yogurt Frozen Fruit Smoothie concoction.
Also, as we speak, our grapes (red and green) are ripening away on the vines, so far so good. I was hoping our wild turkey (summer visitor) wasn't going to nibble them!
Thanks onewish, it is quite timely too. This past weekend, we just harvested over 8lbs from our red vine and none from our green vine. The green grapes all vanished! We must have missed their ripening time and lost them to mother nature. Red grapes are easy to tell when ripe, green are harder to tell.
It's all in the spin. LOL
