3:06 PM Mon, Sep 10, 2007 | Permalink
Beth Heaney  Email
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Before I begin, I have to mention that I no longer think the orange thing in my garden is a pumpkin after all (in my earlier blog entry). It looked like a pumpkin and it smelled like a pumpkin, but all is not what it seems. As I mentioned, there's also a deep green oval shaped pumpkin out there among the weeds, so I suspect they are not on the same vine. When I have some time, I have to find the base(s) of the plants to see what's actually going on there in the garden!
Otherwise, I picked 29 pounds of concord grapes early Saturday morning with my husband, before the yellow jackets came out -- all in under 45 minutes. I've never seen so many. When we got back, I put two big empty bowls and a chair under a tree so I could talk with him while I separated the skins from the pulp. Just in the nick of time, my neighbor Melissa dropped in, pulled up a chair and helped me to separate the 4 quarts of grapes. While we talked, I offered her some of the grapes still in the house and she took them home to make grape jelly. I went on to make 14 half-pints of jam. It was 92 degrees on Saturday -- sort of hot to be standing over a pot of boiling jam and a water bath canner for a couple of hours, but the end result -- the purple-black jam -- made it well worth the effort. There were purple stains everywhere -- in the sink, in the blender, in the processor, on the countertop, covering my hands and nails. A strong grape scent filled the house and lasted through this morning.
I separated the remainder of the grapes into 1-quart bags and gave them away at my church yesterday. This is the time of year when parishoners, overburdened with tomatoes and squash, share the extra vegetables from their gardens. You never know what you'll come home with. The biggest jar of jam went into an already-loaded gift bag for my dad's 75th birthday yesterday. I don't know what I love more about homemade jam -- a spoonful on a Ritz with cheese -- or the smile it elicits when you hand over a jar to someone who really appreciates it.
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Separating the skins from the pulp? I was thinking with jam, the grapes would be cooked whole? Although then I don't know how you get the seeds out without straining out the pulp that makes it jam and not jelly.
Man, that must be a lot of work. I slave over my Mom's piccalilli recipe each year, and the ratio of work to jars of piccalili is very large. I can't imagine separating the skin from each grape for preserves.
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It is a lot of work. With the jelly, you cook the whole grape, make juice, let it sit for a day and then add pectin. Jam needs no pectin added. All you have to do is get the seeds out and get it all ground down real fine, then put in tons of sugar. It's worth it, I swear! I think you know if you're doing preserving too. Why do we do it? I know my husband wonders why, but the final product is so rewarding and sometimes even unique depending upon how creative you feel. It feels good to preserve. That about sums it up!
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Hi,
I was wondering where you live. I am trying to find when the right time to harvest is. What do you look for? I live in New Hampshire and have never picked grapes for a purpose before. As a child I would pick them on the way home from school and pop a warm one in my mouth. Now that we have so many growing wild on our property I would like to make jam and or jelly.
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I live in Exeter, Rhode Island. The only thing I can tell you is that if you live in the woods like I do, you know when you smell them in the air, usually in one of the first cooler days. So in New Hampshire, that's probably earlier than in Rhode Island. I can only guess and say that mid-August would be around your time to pick. Last week, while sitting at the dinner table, a breeze blew in and the scent was overpowering. I looked at the clock and saw I only had about an hour of daylight left, got up and said, "Leave the dishes for now -- I'll be back in about an hour". In that hour, I easily picked 9 pounds. They were just beyond perfect but still good for anything I wanted to do with them. I chose to bring them to work and give them away. One bout of grape jam preserving was enough for this season for me. So I think your grape-picking time has passed, but knowing this you'll be ready for next season. Now's a better time to go with something using apples...
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