canning Grape juice

How bountious are my blessings.  I have so many grapes that there is no way we could eat them before they went bad.  I thought about raisins but we don't really eat that many so I thought I would try grape juice. I never canned grape juice before but there is a first time for everything. I set out to harvesting and there never seemed to be an end.  I picked and picked for over hour. Brennen was helping me  and he was getting creeped out by all the spiders.  That is until I told him the spiders were actually good because they were eating the bugs that were eating the grapes.  After that he was all for spiders.  He would see a bug and call a spider to come over and eat it.  After I picked them all I filled my bins with water to wash them.  Little did I know how creepy this step would be.  For those organic growers out there be prepared.  As the water filled ALL THESE BUGS AND SPIDERS CAME CRAWLING UP AND OUT OF THE TOTES.  It was like a bad horror movie. I couldn't believe how many were hiding in the grapes.  So I washed and rinsed and washed again then I went through them one by one to make sure all the yuckies were gone.

Next step de-stemming and juicing the grapes.  This step took F-o-r-e-v-e-r.  It seemed like 30 min= 4 quarts of juice and we canned about 36 quarts. I had my trusty canning partner my sister Amy.    

Steps

1. get grapes and clean them

2. take off stems.  This process isn't necessary but I did it with the thought of making fruit leather with the leftover pulp.  (after 6 hours in the kitchen I bagged that idea. I was sick of grapes)

3. Steamer is a must.  put water in the bottom part and I put in a couple of coins so I could hear if I was out of water.  When you hear the coins rattling your fine.  If its silent you have a problem check your water level with each new batch of grapes added (use coins of the same metal so you don't ruin your pan)

4.put washed grapes in the strainer part of the pot put on the lid and wait.

  The juice will start to come out of the hose.  You are not supposed to stir the grapes if you want clear juice. I don't care about clarity so I stirred them to get every last ounce of juice from my hard earned grapes.

5. put on your canning lids.  I put mine in a water bath for 15 min to make sure they were sealed. (a step I learned later that it is not necessary. Oh well at least I know they are sealed)

This is concentrated grape juice so you mix 1 part juice 1 part water and add sugar to taste.  It really shouldn't take more than 1/4 cup of sugar per 1 gallon of mixed juice.

Now what to do with all these apples?  I just bought a juicer so maybe we'll just have fresh apple juice.