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Homemade Grape Juice: From The Vine to Your Cup

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When it comes to juice fresh is always best. Learn how to make  your own homemade grape juice starting with picking grapes and ending with sweet juice.

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. It will not change the cost of any products or services for you.

 

Confession. I love grape juice. Love it.

I don’t drink it very often these days because I know most juice is just empty calories with no nutrition. Otherwise I would.

Once in a while I buy pure organic concord grape juice for making jello or gummies. But I can’t afford to buy that just to drink plain.

Homemade Grape Juice | Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

Free grapes.

A few weeks ago my mom called to tell me my grandpa said I could have his grapes. My grandma passed away earlier this year and my grandpa is now in hospice. So the grapes on their farm are just sitting there.

He thought I might be able to put them to good use.

He knows me well.

Homemade Grape Juice | Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

I made a trip to the farm with my two youngest, hoping to pick a bunch of grapes. Then I realized that picking grapes when everything is soaking wet and you have a toddler with grabby hands strapped to your chest is next to impossible.

At least I had a great helper! We did pick a few to get us started. But I had to send my husband and big kids back a few days later to finish the job.

My suggestions for picking grapes:

  1. Have two free hands.
  2. Use clippers.
  3. Be prepared to get messy.

Making juice.

Once we had the grapes at home I had to figure out what to do with them.

It turns out that making homemade grape juice is quite simple. You basically just wash, cook and strain. You may need to add sweetener if you want to drink the juice plain. It just depends how tart the grapes are.

Homemade Grape Juice | Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

It also turns out that the “hardest” part is just separating the good grapes from the bad ones.

It was fun to make my own grape juice for the first time. As I did it I couldn’t help but smile and think of my grandparents standing in the kitchen on their farm making juice together every year for decades.

I felt honored to carry on the tradition, and I think of them every time I drink our homemade grape juice. They are some of the most amazing people I know. And their farm has always been one of my favorite places.

Now we have some grape juice in the freezer for later (that I will try really hard to share with my family). Plus I used some to make grape jelly! I’ll be sharing that recipe tomorrow.

Have you ever tried making homemade grape juice? If you have access to fresh, concord grapes start picking! There is nothing quite like it.

Homemade Grape Juice | Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

 

 

Homemade Grape Juice: From the Vine to Your Cup
Fresh, homemade grape juice from concord grapes.
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Ingredients
  1. Freshly picked concord grapes
  2. Organic cane sugar or honey
Tools
  1. Large stockpot
  2. Large fine mesh strainer
  3. Cheesecloth
Instructions
  1. Wash the grapes. Get rid of any bad or unripe grapes.
  2. Place the grapes in a large stockpot.
  3. Mash the grapes with a potato masher to get the juices flowing.
  4. Turn the heat on to high. Bring to a boil.
  5. Reduce heat and simmer the grapes for 10 - 15 minutes, mashing periodically while they cook.
  6. Turn off the heat.
  7. Strain the grapes/juice through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth over a large bowl.
  8. Allow the grapes to strain for a few hours or over night.
  9. Discard the grapes/skin/seeds.
  10. Strain the juice a second time through clean cheesecloth.
  11. If using the juice for drinking add sugar if the grapes are too sour. Stir and let the sugar dissolve.
  12. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to a year.
Notes
  1. I used about 1/4 cup cane sugar per quart of juice for drinking.
Just Take A Bite https://justtakeabite.com/

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. It will not change the cost of any products or services for you.

This post is linked to Savoring Saturdays.

4 comments

  1. Raia says:

    Those grapes are beautiful! My family used to harvest them from a neighbor’s unused vine and make jam and juice when I was a kid. So much more delicious than the store-bough versions. 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this at Savoring Saturdays, Mary!

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