Saturday morning found us trekking down for our weekly trip to the orchard. Last weekend we got some grapes and I made my first ever batch of grape jelly. It turned out amazingly well and I was hoping to get more grapes this weekend to add to the stash and have enough to share with others. Last week we came home with two pounds of grapes and I made 6 half pints of jelly, this week we picked 8 pounds and I made 6 half pints of jelly and canned 3 quarts of juice to either drink or make more jelly out of. Plus, we have a pitcher of juice in the fridge for the drinking pleasure. It is so delicious. Normally I am not a huge grape juice fan but this is not like anything you would ever get at the store. Isn't that that case with so many things? If you can make it at home, it will taste so much better. In addition to the jelly, I canned 6 jars of peach jam and 6 jars of peach butter (like apple butter, but with peaches). I also have a batch of mushed peaches pre-measured for a batch of jam in the freezer. It is a little kit, just heat, add pectin and process. It was a busy place our kitchen this weekend. Eric was a huge help with boiling and skinning the peaches, a thankless job. He also washed many of the endless sink-fulls of dirty dishes. This weekend was good practice because I have four cases of tomatoes coming on Friday. Next weekend will be more of the same. And then there are nectarines, and apples..... I am bound and determined to preserve it all this year. The kids eat so much fruit which is wonderful but in the winter the pickings are slim. You can get crappy looking organic fruit at the supermarket that was shipped in from god knows where making you question how "green" it is. Or there are canned fruits packed with sugars and colorings. My goal is to make it through much of the winter eating what I put up. We can still get apples and pears during the winter, but now hopefully we have a bit of variety to add to that. I also made 2 quarts of bread and butter pickles this week. I think I will make a few more jars of pickles this week but I am not sure what kind to make.
We took some beauty shots of the grapes because it is just too pretty not too.
The grapes are crushed and cooked on the stove then strained while hot. The steam coming off the pink juice was beautiful. I should mention that the jelly I made is all natural and hot pink. It honestly doesn't look natural the color is so amazing. Eric is going to bring home a spot so we can backlight some and show you.
My homemade juice strainer, cheese cloth, clothespins, a colander and a stock pot. Works great!
Dinner was simple and straight from the garden, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar, (as of yet I don't make my own vinegar, but I can see myself starting some time). Speaking of basil, I also froze two large containers of homemade pesto today, our basil plants are going bonkers!
It was a very productive weekend which is nice, but I think tomorrow I am going to sit and knit during nap time.
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