After my post, Easy Homemade Grape Juice., took off over on Pinterest, I discovered that readers also wanted to know how to turn their homemade grape juice into jelly! Homemade Grape Jelly made from your own grape juice is next level. And using your small batch homemade grape juice to make grape jelly will give you another way to enjoy the richness of flavor of starting with quality ingredients.
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Using Homemade Grape Juice to Make Jelly
Using homemade grape juice also means you have complete control over the nutritional content. You’ll avoid the preservatives and additives found in commercial juices. The process may seem daunting at first, but I assure you, the steps to making homemade grape jelly from your own grape juice are straightforward. You can taste the difference, whether you are using your grape jelly on toasted sourdough bread, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or as part of a fruit dessert.
Key Takeaways:
- Flavor Superiority: Starting with homemade grape juice significantly enhances the jelly’s flavor.
- Nutritional Control: Making your grape juice allows for a healthier jelly.
- Simplified Pleasure: The process, while seeming intricate, enriches the homemade jelly experience, making it deeply satisfying.
Steps to Making Homemade Grape Jelly
Online there are numerous recipes for making grape jelly from store bought juice. And that is a fun idea, if that is all you have access to. And there are recipes that teach you how to make grape jelly from concord grapes. But it does have a lot of steps and you only end up with grape jelly.
I prefer to take my grapes and easily can homemade grape juice, allowing time to do all the work. Once you have all your yummy jars of homemade juice, you can decide to make homemade grape jelly from several jars. Then you will have homemade grape juice AND grape jelly made with homemade grape juice! Best of both worlds!
First, measure out 3 cups of juice of your homemade grape juice and 1 cup of water. Your homemade grape juice is very concentrated and will retain its wonderful flavor.
Measure out 4 cups of sugar. My homemade grape juice already has a little bit of sugar in it, so 4 cups of sugar is plenty for sweetness and for making sure the jelly sets. You don’t want to deviate from using at least 4 cups of sugar, unless you are using a low sugar pectin.
Add your grape juice and water to a 4-6 quart pot. Add your pectin and butter. If you are adding any lemon juice, you can add that now too. Then add your pectin and bring to a boil. Once it is at a rolling boil (a boil that can’t be stirred down), add your sugar.
Add your 4 cups of sugar and return to a boil. Bring to a rolling boil again and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Ladle grape jelly into sterilized jars, filling almost to the top, leaving 1/4 inch space. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp paper towel. Place clean, new lids on top and close jars with a ring.
How to Water Can Jelly
Nothing could be easier than water canning. You are simply boiling your jars. And when you water can your jelly jars they will be shelf stable for at least a 1 1/2 years, if not longer.
To start, fill a large pot with water and set on the stovetop over a medium heat. The pot needs to be deep enough to cover the jars completely.
Next, carefully place your sealed jars on the rack inside the pot of water. Make sure that the water is an inch over the top of the jars. If you need to add more warm water till jars are completely covered.
Cover the pot with a lid, but do not seal. Bring water to a gentle boil and then set a timer for 10 minutes. Once it has been 10 minutes, turn off the heat but keep the pot on the stove. Allow the pot to cool slightly. After a 1/2 hour, you can remove lid and remove jars.
As you the jars cool, they should seal. The lids will make a slight pop sound and the lids should not flex when pressed.
Canning Tips for Making Grape Jelly
Use small jelly sized jars. I like to use jelly jars. You can give them as gifts and smaller jars lead to less waste. If your family opens a jar, it typically will be eaten before any of the jelly goes bad.
Check your lids. Be sure to use brand new canning lids. Check your canning lids a few hours after water canning to ensure that they have all sealed. AND then also check them a week later. Recently, I bought jars online and used the lids the jars came with. The lids all came unsealed ruining a lot of my maple syrup before I caught it. There are more options when it comes to buying canning jars but not all the makers are putting out a quality product.
How to Store Your Grape Jelly
Make sure to mark your jars with the contents of the jars and the date. If you do much canning, you will lost track if your jar contains grape jelly or blackberry jam. And you want to make sure to have the date on them so you know what jars to use first.
Store jars out of direct sunlight. Ideally, keeping the jars in a cool, dark place ensures they maintain their flavor and freshness for the longest time. Basements or a dedicated pantry have proved to be perfect spots for us.
Check your jars occasionally. I have had jars come unsealed when I used some cheaper lids. And since I didn’t check my jars within the first month, I lost a lot of great homemade jelly. Homemade grape juice turned into jelly should always look and smell as inviting as the day it was canned.
If a jar did not seal, either place in fridge, freezer, or try to reseal. If you have one jar not seal, simply place in the fridge and you can use that jelly jar first. If you have several jars not seal, place them again through the water canning process to seal them. You may want to check the lids just to make sure the lids have not been used before and are of high quality.
Uses for Homemade Grape Jelly
I made a batch of homemade grape jelly from concord grapes just last week. Grape jelly is delicious slathered onto homemade sourdough bread. But it also tastes delicious used for jam cookies, jam cake or a topping for cheesecake!
Homemade grape jelly also makes a great flavor for your meatball sauce when added with ketchup or chili sauce.
Simple Grape Jelly Recipe with Homemade Grape Juice
Make delicious homemade grape jelly starting with your own homemade grape juice. With this simple recipe, you can make a batch of grape jelly in as little as two hours! Perfect for jelly for your family, to sell at the farmer’s market, or for gifts!
Homemade Grape Jelly Recipe from Homemade Grape Juice
Equipment
- 1 large canning pot
- 6 sterilized jelly jars
- 6 new canning lids and rings
Ingredients
- 3 cups of grape juice (one jar of my homemade grape juice has 3 cups of juice)
- 1 cup water
- 4 cups sugar
- 1/2 lemon squeezed
- 1 tsp butter optional
- 1 pkg pectin
Instructions
- Drain 3 cups of homemade grape juice into a measuring cup. My homemade grape juice is made with the whole grapes, so I just drain out the juice leaving the grape skin and seeds.
- Measure out 1 cup of water. Measure 4 cups of sugar into a measuring cup and put aside.
- In a large pot or saucepan, add 3 cups of grape juice, 1 cup of water, and pectin.
- Place over low heat and stir. Add in the juice of 1/2 lemon. Stir mixture often.
- Stir until juice and pectin mixture come to a rolling boil (a boil that does not go away even if you stir).
- Add in the 4 cups of sugar. Continue to stir, bringing to another rolling boil.
- Set timer and allow mixture to boil for just over 1 minute.
- Ladle hot mixture into jelly jars. Wipe down rims. Place clean new canning lids on jars and tighten down with canning rings.
- Place filled jelly jars into canning pot. Fill with water till jars are covered with at least 1 inch of water. Bring to a light boil. Set timer for 12 minutes.
- Once water canning bath has lightly boiled for 12 minutes, turn off heat. Allow jars to sit in water for at least 1/2 hour before removing. Jars should all seal with several hours. Mark jars and store out of the sun.
- If one of your jars does not seal, you may either place in fridge to use first or place through the water canning method again.
