Nothing says fall like making homemade concord grape jelly. Intoxicating aroma, jewel-like color and sweet-tart taste appeal to all your senses.
Mother Nature dictated my priorities this past week-end.
I willingly obliged.
Now I have about twenty jars of Homemade Concord Grape Jelly.
It snowed hailed in Montreal this week-end, and we also got our first frost warning of the year. Since I had no intention of making ice wine, I psyched myself up to harvest the remainder of the grapes in my backyard while I still could… and I used those grapes to make this wonderful jelly.
A couple of years ago, my husband built a pergola for the three different varieties of grapes he planted. Needless to say, we had a lot of grapes this year. I’ve been sharing with friends, family and neighbors over the past couple of months, and I still had so many leftovers.
As the warmer weather continued well into October, the grapes on the vine just became sweeter and sweeter. But alas, the inevitable is well on its way and so I picked those leftover grapes at last and made my favorite jelly this weekend!
This grape jelly recipe with pectin is really not a difficult process -you’ll just need to set aside a couple of hours, especially if you are lucky enough to be harvesting your own concord grapes.
As a side note, you might be wondering what I’m going to do with these twenty jars of concord grape jelly I made!
Well, I find that they are appreciated as hostess and holiday gifts. Autumn is the best time to prepare these food gifts… homemade strawberry jam, apple butter, vanilla pear butter, applesauce, sun-dried tomatoes, traditional basil pesto …the list just continues to grow.
Nutrition Tip: This Homemade Concord Grape Jelly is made with the extracted grape juice of Concord grapes, sugar and pectin. It provides you with an excellent alternative to a fat-free spread. Studies have shown that Concord grapes when eaten in their fruit form, provide us with powerful antioxidants called polyphenols.
How to make grape jelly
You won’t believe how easy this is!
Step 1: The preparation
Making your own Homemade Concord Grape Jelly requires a few preparatory steps:
- Canning jars need to be washed and sterilized (place in 225 ° F oven for at least 10 minutes). I leave them in the oven until I am ready to fill them up.
- Lids also need to be sterilized; just 10 minutes in simmering water is all it takes. Leave them in the water until you need them.
- Grapes need to be properly rinsed, stemmed and crushed. I have often found spiders, spider webs and all sorts of creepy crawlers in the middle of mine… that’s what happens when no pesticides are used! I think it’s a fair trade-off. As I stem each grape, I also give it a gentle squeeze in order to separate the “meat” from the skin. I do this over the bowl in order to collect any juices that may be given off. Then, with the help of a potato masher, I crush the grapes. In total, we need about 3 pounds of grapes that have been removed from their stems.
Step 2: Extracting the grape juice
Once your grapes have been crushed, place them in a large saucepan along with ½ cup of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to allow the grapes to simmer for approximately 10 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally.
In the meanwhile, set your cheesecloth in a strainer (or use your jelly cloth if you have one) over a heatproof bowl. Pour prepared fruit and liquid in the strainer and allow to drip for a couple of hours. You need four cups of this strained liquid. The aroma of this concentrate is absolutely intoxicating!
Step 3: Combining the ingredients
It's extremely important to measure the right amounts of grape juice and sugar- otherwise, your jelly may turn out too thick or too thin.
That being said, combine 4 cups of extracted grape juice with 7 cups of granulated sugar in a large heavy-bottomed pot.
Bring your mixture to a boil, add in the CERTO pectin (liquid) and stir for exactly one minute. Do not get burned here!
Once that is done, remove the pot from the heat and skim the foam for approximately 5 minutes. I find this to be a two-person job, though it can be done alone. I usually enlist the help of my daughter… she stirs while I skim.
Step 4: Canning
Ladle the jelly immediately into your sterilized hot jars. Remember to leave about ¼ inch of headspace. Place a sterilized lid and screw on the top.
The final part is processing the jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
When you hear the seals of the jar lids popping, you’ll know you’ve done a good job!
How to use it
This Homemade Concord Grape Jelly is great on toasted bread, bagels, homemade scones, buttermilk biscuits, rolls or pancakes. Not to mention savory-sweet dishes like this recipe for these Baked Chicken Thighs.
Recipe inspiration
This summary is based on the recipe that I found years ago on the CERTO website. The original recipe did not require any butter, and so I do not use any (interesting enough, Martha Stewart also uses Certo to make her grape jelly… I guess that means I’m doing it right!)
Have fun making your grape jelly.
THANKS SO MUCH for following and being part of the She Loves Biscotti community where you will find Simple & Tasty Family-Friendly Recipes with an Italian Twist.
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Ciao for now,
Maria
★★★★★ If you have made this Grape Jelly recipe, I would love to hear about it in the comments below and be sure to rate the recipe!
Recipe
Homemade Concord Grape Jelly
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Ingredients
Extracting the juice:
- 3 pounds grapes removed from their stems and washed
- ½ cup water
Making the jelly:
- 4 cups extracted grape juice
- 7 cups sugar granulated
- 1 pouch Certo fruit pectin liquid
Instructions
Extracting the juice:
- Place grapes in a heavy-bottomed pot.
- Add water.
- Crush the grapes with a potato masher. This will help speed up the extraction process.
- Bring the grapes to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir occasionally.
- In the meanwhile, sterilize jars and caps (for details refer to post section on THE PREPARATION).
- Pour the cooked grapes, in a jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined strainer. Allow to drip for a couple of hours.
Making the jelly:
- Combine the extracted grape juice and sugar in a large heavy-bottomed pot.
- Over high heat, stir together until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Add the pouch of Certo and continue to stir the boiling mixture for 1 minute.
- Remove the pot from the heat.
- Stir and skim the foam for approximately 5 minutes.
- Ladle the jelly immediately into the hot sterilized jars. Leave ¼ inch of headspace. Place a sterilized lid and screw on the top.
- The final part is processing the jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
- When you hear the seals of the jar lids popping, you'll know you've done a good job!
Notes
Nutrition
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Sergio Torres
I am planning on making this jelly , but had a question cam you use sugar substitute in stead of sugar ?
Maria
Hi Sergio. Unfortunately no. They are not interchangeable. Thanks for stopping by.
Wendy Lang
I made the jelly a second time as I liked it so much! This should last the winter for sure!
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Maria
Amazing Wendy! Thanks so much for taking the time to share, appreciate it!
Nadia
I made this recipe and I was worried i did it wrong as I thought the lids were suppose to pop right away. To my surprise a little later, I heard them popping one by one. 😄😄
My question is how should I be storing them…can they just be shelved until I’m ready for them or do the extra cans need to be in the freezer?
Thank you
Maria
Fantastic Nadia. Happy to hear you heard them pop! I do not freeze them. I keep them on a shelf until I need them. Thanks for taking the time to comment, appreciate it.
Nilda Jensen
Nilda
10/6/2019
Made this recipe today from Concord grapes that we have in our back yard, the first batched we got 5 pint jars and the second batch is still cooking. I can’t believe how easy this recipe was to make we cant wait to have our first taist tomorrow for breakfast.
Maria
How wonderful Nilda! Enjoy your grape jelly!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, appreciate it!
Doris
Hi. I’m just about to try this recipe with some grapes that my neighbour gave me. They’ve been waiting for me in her fridge – they were picked about a week ago but still look firm. So my first question would be, do you think they are alright to use? My second question is , do I have to use liquid Certo or can I substitute the crystals?
Maria
Hi Doris, if the grapes look good to you, they should be fine to make the jelly with. This recipe has only been tested with Certo liquid… unfortunately crystals cannot be used as a replacement. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Cherlyn
This is my first time attempting to make jelly. My jars were not hot when I took them out of the dishwasher and I did not hear any popping after I put on lids and rings. Do the jars have to be hot when filling and sealing the tops. I now have them in the water bath canner. Wondering how long they should boil and if there is a chance they will seal after boiling?
Thanks.
Maria
Welcome to the wonderful world of making jelly!
Cherlyn, just wondering if you used the sterilization mode on your dishwasher instead of sterilizing them in the oven? Sterilizing the jars and washers is an important step in jam and jelly making. As is mentioned, the jars should be kept warm until ready to be filled. In this manner, there is no need for the water bath.
That being said, and to be on the safe side, I would process in the water bath for 10 minutes, more if you are at high altitude. Make sure you have a proper seal on each jar. You may not hear the popping sound, but if you press the center of the lid, there should be a slight indentation. If it feels flat or bulging, it means that the jar has not sealed properly. You can keep those in the refrigerator and use them first. Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
liz mayer
made the jelly with home grown grapes. variety unknown, are from daughters garden. turned out perfectly and taste is superb. thank you. liz
Maria
How wonderful Liz! Thanks so much for taking the time to share, appreciate it!
Farrah
Hello and thank for this recipe Maria!
Can you tell me how long our fresh batch will last now that our lids have ‘popped’?
Many thanks!
Maria
How wonderful Farrah! I had a bumper crop last year… I still have a few jars left and they are still good. Based on my experience, I would say 1 year. Enjoy your grape jelly.
Jo-Ann
I made the jelly using wild Concord grapes foraged from our side road. These are much smaller than the cultivated grapes but the flavour is so wonderful! There are so many recipes out there and arguments for using pectin or cooking to a high temperature so the natural pectin will set the jelly. I was concerned the high temperature would reduce the amount of juice and might have an effect on the taste. So opted for added Pectin. Wild grapes have something called tannins – a bitter sediment. Last year I strained the juice twice to try to eliminate the tannins second time through paper towels. Not very effective and loss of precious juice. This year I let the juice sit 24 hours in the frig and the tannins settled. I was able to pour it off and the tannins stayed in the container. Thanks for sharing this recipe. My second batch is simmering on the stove top.
Maria
My pleasure Jo-Ann. Thanks so much for sharing! Big production day for you today… you’ll be enjoying your jelly throughout the year! Thanks so much for stopping by, appreciate it!
Penny
I love this jelly recipe! I have done 3 batches and turned out great! I did 2 more last night and they have not jelled up:( the only thing different is that my pectin was right at expiration date. Do you think I could empty my jars and bring back to boil and add better pectin?
Maria
Ahh, I feel your pain Penny. That’s what happened to me one year… although I used expired pectin. I think it is definitely worth a try. Let me know how it goes.