I've been on a freezer jam kick lately. It started with my copious crop of oranges, then I tried it with fresh strawberries (gasp- heavenly!), and just yesterday I experimented with a bunch of grapes I had left over from Easter.
Freezer jamming fresh, uncooked fruit is a whole new thing for me, and I'm loving it. Everything tastes so fresh and bursting with life. I don't know why I never thought to try it before, but anyway....onto the grapes!
So, I thought I'd try it out on my leftover stash of seedless black grapes. I went looking on the net to see if anyone had ever done grapes via the uncooked, freezer jamming method, but they were few and far between, and they each included the peels, but I didn't want a whole boat-load of grape peels floating around in my jam. Pulp yes, but peels no. I don't know why, but it just didn't look good to me.
To make a long story short, I got to thinking about how to quickly dispatch the peels without too much time or effort, and a thought dropped into my mind....my Pampered Chef garlic press (it's the kind that presses and peels my garlic at the same time all in one fell swoop)! I tried it out on my grapes and danced a happy jig when I saw it do the same thing to my grapes that it does to my garlic- it spit out the juice and pulp through the little holes while leaving the peel behind in the chamber intact! WooHoo! Jackpot! In hardly any time at all I had the job done!
I didn't let the peels go totally to waste, though. I put them in a bowl to macerate for a half hour with 2 tablespoons of sugar to release the deep purple juices so I could use them to brighten up my juicy grape pulp, which was looking a bit sad, grayish-lavender in color. The final color with the added peel juices came out a beautiful reddish/purple. Yay!
Anyway, I'm happy to report that I now have a pint of uncooked grape freezer jam:
-Enough grapes (and macerated dark purple juice from the peels) to make a total of 1 2/3 cup juice/pulp (it may have been a pound or so of grapes to start, I don't know, because I unfortunately didn't think to weigh them). Use a garlic press to remove the peels. I bet if your grapes have seeds that the press might even be able to remove them, too. I haven't tried it, but it seems plausible.
-2 tbsp. (16g) Ball brand Real Fruit Instant Powered Pectin
-166g castor/superfine sugar
-1 tbsp. lemon juice
Mix the sugar with the pectin, add the pressed grape juices/pulp, mix 3 minutes, leave on counter 30 minutes and then stick in fridge until set. When set, place in a quart size freezer ZipLoc bag or a Foodsaver bag, squeeze the air out and freeze flat. Done!
I'd love to get my hands on some Concord grapes now!
IrishLass
Freezer jamming fresh, uncooked fruit is a whole new thing for me, and I'm loving it. Everything tastes so fresh and bursting with life. I don't know why I never thought to try it before, but anyway....onto the grapes!
So, I thought I'd try it out on my leftover stash of seedless black grapes. I went looking on the net to see if anyone had ever done grapes via the uncooked, freezer jamming method, but they were few and far between, and they each included the peels, but I didn't want a whole boat-load of grape peels floating around in my jam. Pulp yes, but peels no. I don't know why, but it just didn't look good to me.
To make a long story short, I got to thinking about how to quickly dispatch the peels without too much time or effort, and a thought dropped into my mind....my Pampered Chef garlic press (it's the kind that presses and peels my garlic at the same time all in one fell swoop)! I tried it out on my grapes and danced a happy jig when I saw it do the same thing to my grapes that it does to my garlic- it spit out the juice and pulp through the little holes while leaving the peel behind in the chamber intact! WooHoo! Jackpot! In hardly any time at all I had the job done!
I didn't let the peels go totally to waste, though. I put them in a bowl to macerate for a half hour with 2 tablespoons of sugar to release the deep purple juices so I could use them to brighten up my juicy grape pulp, which was looking a bit sad, grayish-lavender in color. The final color with the added peel juices came out a beautiful reddish/purple. Yay!
Anyway, I'm happy to report that I now have a pint of uncooked grape freezer jam:
-Enough grapes (and macerated dark purple juice from the peels) to make a total of 1 2/3 cup juice/pulp (it may have been a pound or so of grapes to start, I don't know, because I unfortunately didn't think to weigh them). Use a garlic press to remove the peels. I bet if your grapes have seeds that the press might even be able to remove them, too. I haven't tried it, but it seems plausible.
-2 tbsp. (16g) Ball brand Real Fruit Instant Powered Pectin
-166g castor/superfine sugar
-1 tbsp. lemon juice
Mix the sugar with the pectin, add the pressed grape juices/pulp, mix 3 minutes, leave on counter 30 minutes and then stick in fridge until set. When set, place in a quart size freezer ZipLoc bag or a Foodsaver bag, squeeze the air out and freeze flat. Done!
I'd love to get my hands on some Concord grapes now!
IrishLass
