MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk

Jammin'

This was the year we picked almost all the grapes off of our grape vine, instead of just leaving them to the birds. This grape vine has been here since we moved in, growing along the chain-link fence on the south side of our back yard. Last year I built an arch-way over the back gate, and so the vines had a good time growing all over the arch this summer. We got lots of grapes... unfortunately, not good eating grapes, because they are small purple ones with a stone in them. But they can be used for cooking.

That is, IF you take the time to pick all the darn things, then wash and sort out the good from the bad, boil 'em down, strain out the skin and seeds, and then figure out what to make with them... all in the lazy, hot, non-motivated month of August. Can you see why it's been about 8 years since we last tried to do something with them?

But this year, it's been actually much cooler and DH suggested we go out and pick them. We dragged out our whiny children, made threats about TV and computer use until the grapes were picked. We made them do some sorting too, a family full of purple fingers. But then the main part fell to me, the washing/cooking/straining and making of the jam.

(What else do you do with grapes, anyway? I looked up wine and that seemed to complicated with finings and temperatures and storage... um, jam! Lots and lots of jam!)

I didn't have much luck with making jam 8 years ago. But this time, with the help of handy-dandy Google, I found an easy recipe online (just contains grapes and sugar). It needed to be made in small batches, so over the course of a week, I made about 10 batches of jam. I used every jar in the house that I'd saved over the years (yes, Clutter-Bug Me) and had to buy more jelly jars from Savers. I didn't "can" the jam, since canning scares me (Night of the Living Botulism), so it does need to be kept in the fridge. But it should keep for a good long while, and I'm planning on handing out little jars to lucky individuals who visit my house in the near future.

So stop on by... you may be leaving with some of the most exquisite, grapey-luscious jam!

Posted by sapphire at September 10, 2004 03:22 PM