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My tremendously supportive husband & I have 3 wonderful children, 1 dog, 12 laying hens, 2 dairy goats, 3 bee hives, and a 2000 sq foot vegetable garden on a small 1/4 acre lot in the city. In the center of it all is our small 1,000 sq foot house purchased in 2008 as a foreclosure that we fully renovated to host our growing family, home school adventures, and small home business (CozyLeaf.com). We have a desire to learn a path to self sufficiency finding ways to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. We want to learn to live with less as we laydown roots to our little homestead.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Canning Grape Juice Step by Step with Pics

After we crushed the Marachel Foch grapes and extracted the juice, we made 10 gallons of wine and saved 5 gallons of juice for jams and canned juice. This 5 gallons was put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours (ours set for several days) to let all the sediment settle to the bottom. Once the sediment has settled to the bottom you will want to siphon the juice off the sediment (without disturbing the sediment). Henry thought this was the best thing ever! He held the hose for me and was a tremendous amount of help...or else I would have probably ended up with grape juice all over my kitchen!

 
Get your area ready! I sanatized my jars and put them in the oven at 200 degrees to stay hot and sterilized while I was getting everything else together. I have 1 large water bath canner on the stove getting boiling and 1 stock pot filled with as much grape juice as I could fit in there. Then behind the pot of grape juice I put my lids in a pot of steaming water to sterilize.
Bring the juice to 190 degrees and heat for 5 minutes stirring regularly to avoid scorching (adding sugar if you want). Remove from heat and fill your jars with the juice. Clean the rims and adjust your sterilized lids and bands.

Boil in a water bath canner for the designated time for your altitude. Mine was 15 minutes at a full boil.
Remove your jars from the canner and let them cool 24 hours. Remove the bands (not the lids obviously) and clean your jars thoroughly, label and store!
This was quite easy! The tast is unbelievable being from fresh crushed grapes. I did this process 2 times with 7 jars each time and ended up with 14 Quarts of Grape juice :)

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