Couple of questions on grape jelly (which I haven't made before).
1. Can I use ordinary sweet eating grapes for this - I have just over 1 kilo?
2. Should I add Certo or powder pectin as these are not sour grapes I am using?
3. Would you recommend adding cooking apples to the mix or will that spoil the grape flavours?
I will be using my steam juicer to extract the juice from the grapes for this batch of jelly.
Thanks for your thoughts and advice.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Hi Maura,
I have never made grape Jelly but found this recipe on the Good Food site, It looks easy & foolproof from the comments. I would add more lemon or lime juice if it tastes too sweet. Good luck.
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful...perhaps more so."
from Les Miserables
Thanks Hattie
It was one of the recipes I bookmarked funny enough. It gives the amount of sugar you need as 450g per 1 kg fruit - which is odd because normally the jelly recipes tell you how much sugar you need for the amount of liquid your fruit has produced. Presumably this is because not all fruit or methods of juice extraction will produce the same quantity of juice.
My steamer has given me 800 ml of juice so need to work out now how much sugar that requires - but I think I have a book tucked away somewhere that does that.
I have been told that adding apple juice does help with set and flavour.
I'll give it a go and see what happens. The grapes cost £3 in Aldi's so not a lot to lose if no good, but I do hate waste. I'm sure it will be fine tho'......memo to me......think positive
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
I made it a few yars ago when someone gave me her not quite ripened black grapes of her vines. They were a fraction too sour to eat, but made nice tasting jelly, but the set was very light. The next year I made grape and elderberry jelly and it was wonderful. If you get too light a set you could jar it up and wait a few weeks for the elderberries.
Hi Janet, that's interesting as I would have expected under ripe grapes to have a better set. Did you add any pectin or apples to yours?
Thanks for tip about elderberries - I have never used them before so no idea of taste. Is it easy to describe???? Would be interested in giving them a go this year as they are normally plentiful around here.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
sorry for the delay in reply Maura, elderberries are a bit difficult to explain taste wise, I like it, they have a sort of 'green' taste..sorry that sounds daft, but I can't really explain it, I would suggest you maybe make a small batch and try it for yourself...don't try them raw they can give you an upset stomach.
Thats ok Janet - I know what you mean about describing taste - I can't describe my Hedgerow jam/jelly. I really like it but it's not as sweet as other jams. This year have labelled it Wild Fruit Jam to see if it sounds more appealing
The Grape Jelly is another one I'm not so sure about. The set is a bit wobbly even though I added some powdered pectin and it really isn't as "grapey" as I had imagined it might be - but that might be down to using ordinary eating seedless red grapes instead of the big juicy black ones. It does taste nice and has a lovely colour so wont be wasted but will try a different type of grape next time.
A lady I know swears by lemon juice only for getting jam/jelly to set and has been making jams for a lot longer than me but I think it can make some jams a little bit tart and change the taste so I'm still not too sure about that. I always use the amount of lemon juice suggested but when I've added more if it hasn't set I feel you can taste the lemon coming through so prefer to add some form of pectin.
Thanks for info about elderberries - I'm looking forward to getting to the ones at bottom of my garden before the birds do or it will be purple droppings on my washing and patio again....little beggars
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
A friend used to give me grapes from his vine each year- grape jelly doesn't set too readily: add lemon juice and some lemon zest too- makes a gorgeous 'lemon shred' jelly, use it as a base with rose hips or as a base for japonica jelly later in the year or with crab apples.
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
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