Grape juice

[Wasatch Rebel]

We use a steamer juicer to juice our grapes and because the juice comes out very concentrated, never really know how much water (and thus sugar) needs to be added to a quart of juice after processing to make it taste good. Any suggestions?

[thomasusa]

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTRd1dxbxy1RSCnJjlUkzGEnryK_HyXt gq9miA1GNTV-TXoU1jeiQ

Get (or make) a great wooden vat.
Stomp the grapes with your bare feet.
During bad times, it takes less fuel than a steamer. :smilielol5:

[Earthling]

I just bottle the concentrated juice from the steamer with no sugar. Sometimes the grapes are so sweet they don't need any (or very little) sugar added when used. Why would you add water and bottle water? Bottom line - add the sugar and water when you use it.

[Noahs ARK]

I just bottle the concentrated juice from the steamer with no sugar. Sometimes the grapes are so sweet they don't need any (or very little) sugar added when used. Why would you add water and bottle water? Bottom line - add the sugar and water when you use it.

Ditto - I add sugar & water "to taste" after opening.

Make jam from the concentrate!!

[LEVE]

I used to can 600 quarts of grape juice a year when the kids were still at home. We also would sweeten it when the jar was opened.

[Earthling]

I tossed several cases of 14 year old juice the other day . . . very sad. . . I try really hard to not let food get old & bad. It was left from the days when we made it every Sunday to go with dinner.

I did get a few new grapes and made some grape jam . . . which didn't set right so now it is grape syrup! :l0 (29):

[prairiemom]

Personally I don't like the steamer juicer. It uses so much energy and cooks the fruit so long that many of the vitamins (and flavor) are lost. I prefer a Victorio strainer. Just barely cover the grapes with water and boil for 5 mins. Run through the strainer to remove seeds and skin. Strain again through a sieve to remove the pulp. It takes about 1/3 the time

[Earthling]

Prairiemom - I wondered about which was better the Victorio or the steamer. To make my jam/syrup this time I used the Victorio but I just put the raw washed grapes through without cooking them. The flavor was awesome. I have two cones - one is a fine sieve and the other a medium so I used the fine which meant I did not have to remove any pulp.

Why do you cook the grapes for 5 minutes? thank you for your input.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I just bottle the concentrated juice from the steamer with no sugar. Sometimes the grapes are so sweet they don't need any (or very little) sugar added when used. Why would you add water and bottle water? Bottom line - add the sugar and water when you use it.

That's exactly what I'm saying, Earthling. I want to know how much to add when I open it up and pour it in a pitcher. I found a formula once on the internet of how much water and sugar to add and that was really tasty, but I can't find it anywhere, so I was just wondering if anyone knew.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I used to can 600 quarts of grape juice a year when the kids were still at home. We also would sweeten it when the jar was opened.

And you used all 600? Did you have a large family?

[Wasatch Rebel]

Personally I don't like the steamer juicer. It uses so much energy and cooks the fruit so long that many of the vitamins (and flavor) are lost.

I've been wondering about that. Yeah, I'd rather keep the vitamins since without them, it's pretty much just sugar water anyway.

[LEVE]

And you used all 600? Did you have a large family? Yep, I had a seven kids... almost a gaggle. We'd put up about 2,500 to 3,000 quarts of varied juices/fruit per year. We could buy the grapes for less than 10 cents a pound. The farmers got disgusted with selling to Welches every year and taking a loss. They opened their harvests to the public and made more. We lived only about 2 hours from the heart of Washington State's fruit growing area. The trips we'd take to get the fruit was our "vacation" for many a year. More than once our 15 passenger Dodge tradesman van came back over the Cascades to the west side filled to the gunnels with fruit and kids. They'd eat that fruit till they'd bust... sometimes that wasn't a good thing. :blush2:

Just this month one of our youngest children (now married and a Mother of four) did her first canning session. She worked hard with another of her Ward members. A couple of weeks later she said: "I can't believe how fast it goes. I've got to can a lot more next year!" I love it when my kids are learning these lessons. :vork:

Yep, when you're feeding kids, that stuff flies off the shelves. I still love to open a bottle of fruit and have it with some hot homemade biscuits. It's yummy.

Now that the kids are all grown and gone I still can't afford an ounce of gold... but every harvest season the better half and I still put up our share of God's gold that he's seen fit to bless us with. :a0 (32):

[prairiemom]

Why do you cook the grapes for 5 minutes?
Two reasons: I get more juice out of them, more flavor, I guess because the flavor of the skins gets cooked in? And because it makes the juice hot and takes less to reheat for the canning process.

600 jars is a LOT by any standard. That's one reason I love my 1/2 gallon jars, but I only do about 60 of them (equivalent: 120 qts) a year.