My Great Uncle Bud gave me a love of old movies and classic TV shows. And nothing is more classic than the I Love Lucy Show! Naturally, my first thoughts about grapes goes to the iconic scene of Lucy at the vineyard making goofy faces as she was squishing grapes. While this grape juice recipe isn’t quite as funny, thankfully my canning grape juice with Concord grapes recipe isn’t nearly as messy OR complicated! So enjoy laughing at I Love Lucy, while you make this ridiculously simply Concord grape juice recipe!
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Easy Canning Grape Juice Recipe Without Cooking
There are a lot of grape juice recipes, but most of them involve cooking grapes and/ or running grapes through a sieve. This easy canning recipe does not involve any cooking. And the taste is absolutely fabulous!
You will simply wash and destem your grapes and place them in jars. There is no deseeding and no cooking or mashing the grapes. The magic happens in the 3-4 week period while the grapes sit in the sealed canned jars.
The hardest part to making this recipe is finding grapes!
Easy Way to Make Grape Juice Without a Blender
This recipe also does not require any blending or deseeding of grapes. The whole grapes, minus the stems are placed in the quart jars. The grapes are processed in a water canning bath.
After the canned grape juice sits for 4 weeks, you will simply strain out the remaining grapes. All that is left is delicious grape juice. Ridiculously simple!!
Ingredients for Homemade Concord Grape Juice
For this canning concord grape juice recipe, you will need a few ingredients!
Steps to Canning Grape Juice
Clean your quart jars and rings. Typically, I run my canning jars through the dishwasher, the night before, that way I know they are good and clean. If you forgot to run them through the dishwasher, then wash with hot soapy water in sink. And then pour boiling water over them to ensure they are clean. Always use new canning lids!
This is a nice beginner canning set that has the regular size mouth jars.
Wash and destem grapes. Simply wash grapes in a colander and then pluck grapes off the stems. As you destem grapes, have a 2 cup or larger measuring cup nearby. Place destemmed grapes immediately into measure cup til you have 2 cups.
Place 2 cups of grapes in quart jars. Once you have 2 cups of washed grapes place the grapes into sterilized quart jar.
I like to use this handy funnel. Or you can purchase this set which includes funnel and the jar lifter!
Pour 1/2 cup sugar into jar. Once you have 2 cups of grapes per quart jar, pour 1/2 cup of sugar into each jar over grapes.
Pour boiling water over grapes. Next, you will pour boiling water over the grapes and sugar. Fill up to the bottom of the quart jar mouth rim, leaving about an inch of space in each jar.
Wipe down rim of jars. With a damp paper towel, wipe down tops of rims. You want to remove any bits of sugar or grape that might prevent the canning lids from properly sealing!
Place new lids on quart jars and seal down with rings. Now that your rims are debris free, you will place a new canning lid on the top of each canning jar and seal down with a clean ring. You can reuse canning rings as needed.
Place quart jars in water bath. Lastly, place your sealed quart jars in a water bath. You can use a pressure canner or a very large pot. I like to place several inches of water in the canner before placing on stovetop. Carefully, lower jars into water in the canner. Then pour water over jars til they are covered by an inch of water.
Cover canner or large pot with a lid, but do not seal the lid of canner. You are just trying to help your water heat faster. Bring water bath to a simmer or low boil. Set timer for 10 minutes and let process. Once jars have processed for 10 minutes, turn off stovetop burner.
Once water has cooled slightly, remove jars from water bath and allow them to sit for 24 hours.
Label and store jars for 3-4 weeks. Once jars have completely cooled, you can label your jars. Place in a pantry or cupboard, out of direct sunlight and allow to sit for 3-4 weeks. I will periodically check on my jars though the 3-4 weeks.
Enjoy! After 3-4 weeks, open a jar and enjoy some delicious grape juice with your family and friends! Store any leftover grape juice in fridge.
Homemade Canning Grape Juice Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker or Large pot
- 8 Quart jars
- 8 New rings and canning lids
Ingredients
- 16 cups concord grapes
- 4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Wash and clean grapes. Remove any stems.
- Measure out around 2 cups of grapes per quart jar.
- Add 1/2 cup of sugar per jar.
- Pour boiling water over grapes, to within 1 inch of the top of the jar.
- Place new lid and a ring on each jar. Place jars in a water canning bath.
- Process in water canning bath for 10 minutes.
- Remove jars and cool. Store jars out of direct sunlight for 3-4 weeks.
- After jars stand for 3-4 weeks, open jar, strain out grapes and enjoy.
- Store open, unused juice in fridge for up to a week.
8 thoughts on “Canning Grape Juice with Concord Grapes”
This works so well! I have been canning juice this way for years. I use seedless Concord grapes from our own vines. Do you have any ideas for using the grapes instead of throwing them away after straining off the juice? It seems like a waste since they are seedless.
Thanks so much Debbie for sharing from your experience. I have not come across any ideas on what to do with the actual grapes. I agree…it seems like a waste to just throw them away afterward! I do love that you can use your own Concord grapes!
i made grape juice last year. after straining the grapes, I gave the grape stuff to someone’s who had chickens. they loved it.
Oh great idea! Thanks for sharing Colleen!
After I remove the jars, you said to place in pantry or cupboard 3-4 weeks. Does the area for the jars need to be cold or can they sit on my shelf in the kitchen
Hi Deborah, The jars can just sit on the shelf in the kitchen. They do not need to be refrigerated. Once it has been 3-4 weeks, and you open one to drink, then you need to place the remainder of the juice you did not drink in the refrigerator. But the sealed jars can sit out on the shelf in your kitchen:) Great question. Thanks for asking.
Can you use other grape varieties? We grabbed some black seedless grapes from the store that are wonderfully sweet & I’d love to be able to preserve that goodness.
Hi Becky, Thanks for reaching out. I am not sure if that would be the best way to preserve grapes from the stores. The recipe above is for making grape juice, and I believe only certain grapes would make good juice. But you could just put the grocery grapes in the freezer, and keep them longer that way!