Michelle's Test Kitchen: Jam & Bread

Well, not Jam, Jelly. Jelly and Bread just didn't have the right ring to it. I started my quest to make grape jelly after a trip to my husband's family farm where they've started a small vineyard. It isn't necessary to have your own vineyard to make grape jelly, but it does add some nostalgia.

Part I - Grape Juice

My husband's family has a vineyard in Southern Iowa, near Creston - SSS Vineyards. This is definately a mom and pop shop. My mother-in-law and her sisters started the vineyard on the farm where they grew up. Their father, Gerald, still lives there and takes care of the vineyard throughout the year. As far as I know they have four kinds of grapes, La Crosse which are green and Concord, St. Croix and Frontenac which are red, but don't quote me on that. While they have had some success with their white wine their red leaves a bit to be desired, but it does make great Sangria. I have faith in Ben's aunt and uncle though, I'm expecting big things from the red wine this year.

Part I photos from Aunt Shelly

This year was my first time helping to pick grapes and I had been warned that it would be awful. It turns out I chose the right year to help pick. The grapes were in great shape and mostly free of bugs, so that made picking easy, at least for the red grapes. Even armature pickers were welcome.

The process for getting from bunches of grapes to juice wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was fun. First, we rolled the grapes on grate, smashing them a little and letting the grapes fall through the holes, mostly removing the stems.

From there, the grapes were poured into metal tubs where they were mashed using what looked like an industrial sized potato masher. We didn't get any volunteers to hop in and stomp them by foot.

Finally, they were put into a press and the juice came streaming out. We tasted it right out of the press. Imagine grape cider. It was thicker than grape juice and bursting with flavor. It was a little tangy, but not too tart. The color of the juice from the green grapes wasn't all that appetizing though.

On the off chance that you don't have a vineyard or juice press, you have a few options. You can buy grapes for your jelly and extract the juice in a few different ways, or you can skip to buying the juice. If you buy juice, or concentrate, stick to no sugar added juice. You will want to prepare it according to the directions if it is from concentrate. If you want to extract the juice without a press, there are thorough directions here.

One perk of helping with the grape harvest was taking home grape juice. I was under the impression it would take a lot of juice to make jelly, so I stocked up. I brought home three gallons of red Frontenac grape juice which had been pasteurized by Ben's grandpa. I froze the juice after harvest in August, and started researching jelly making. I think his family must have laughed for quite a while after I left. They probably all knew that you will actually end up with more jelly than you have juice. By my calculations, my three gallons of juice will make four or five gallons of jelly. Guess what everyone I know is getting for Christmas!