Grapes Make the Jelly Better

The other day, my mother-in-law came over with a bowl (large bowl) full of grapes.  They were from her vines.  So I decided I would make grape jelly--well we couldn't let these beautiful grapes go to waste!

I washed the grapes and put them in a large pot, stems and all, with a little water and started cooking them.

Let the grapes boil.

Let the grapes boil down to the point where you feel the water that you put in has boiled off.

Then strain the stems and skins from the juice.

I ended up putting the grapes in cheese cloth to separate the stem and hulls from the juice.

Measure the amount of juice you have.  Put juice in large pot.  Add 1 1/4 cup of sugar for every 1 cup of juice you have.  Add sugar to your juice and start cooking.

Bring the juice to a boil and boil until when you put a metal spoon in the juice and pull it out, the juice doesn't make a stream coming off the spoon but the juice drips off.  You can also drop some juice in cold water and if it clumps, it's ready!

While the juice is cooking, sterilize your jars you are going to put your jelly in.  I like to sterilize mine in the dishwasher.  I usually wash just a load of glass jars along with the lids and rims, and just leave them in the dishwasher until I am ready for them.  It's important to remember that when you are using glass jars that you need to make sure they are sterilized.  Many jelly recipes tell you to boil your jars in water.  If you clean them in the dishwasher, you can skip this step.

Once the jelly got close to being ready, I skimmed the top of the juice.  When you skim this stuff off, it makes your jelly look better.

Pour your jelly in your jars.  Fit your lids on and tighten the rims.

Now at this point, you have a choice.  I have always just left my jars and they will seal themselves.  But if you are worried about bacteria growth, then you can put them in a hot water bath (boiling water in a big pot) for 10 minutes.  Either way is fine....

Your jelly should look as good as mine!!