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Allotment Gardening
Grow all you can eat on your own allotment.
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Smallholding for Sale in North Devon
Three bedroom detached house in 18 acres for sale - North Devon, UK
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Nettles
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Making Nettle Beer
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fruits
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Grape Jelly Recipe
Make your own delicious grape jelly
Grape Jelly Recipe
recipes | fruits | preserving
Grapes do not keep very well, so if you grow your own, or stumble upon a large quantity of good grapes for sale in the summer, making a grape jelly preserve is a wonderful way to give you that delicious grape taste all year around. Grape jelly can be used on bread and toast, and also added to gravys, sauces, and in particular with roast meats.
What is the Difference Between a Jam and a Jelly
A preserved jelly differs from a jam only in that the fruit pulp and seeds etc are removed before preserving giving a smooth final result often preferred by children.Making Grape Jelly
The ingredients for grape jelly are very simple - for 1kg of grapes all that is added is around 0.5kg of caster sugar, the juice of one lemon, and some pectin (a natural fruit derived setting agent available in many shops).
Red grapes are better than green grapes for grape jelly due to their stronger flavour, sweetness, and rich colour. Ideally grapes with their seeds (rather than seedless grapes) should be used - just wash the grapes, remove the stalks, and they are ready.
Put the grapes into a large heavy bottomed pan over a low heat, cover, and leave to cook gently until the juices start to flow out of the grapes - typically after around 5 minutes. Then use a potato masher to squash the grapes and leave cooking for another 10 minutes or so occasionally stirring and squashing some more to get as much juice out of the grapes as possible.
Balance a sieve or collander lined with muslin cloth (or a clean tea towel) over a bowl, and carefully pour the cooked grape mixture into it. Leave for a few hours or overnight if possible to give all the juice time to drip through.
Pour the collected juice back into the (cleaned) pan and slowly stir in the caster sugar over a high heat so that it dissolves. Then add the lemon juice, and add the pectin according to the instructions printed on the pectin packaging. (Note that jam sugar can instead be used, which is sugar with pectin already added to it).
Boil the mixture for around 10 minutes (removing any scummy froth from the surface) until it reaches 105 degrees Celcius (if you have a jam thermometer), or until a small drop of the mixture sets in 30 seconds on a pre-cooled plate from the fridge.
Leave the mixture to cool for 10 minutes, and then pour into sterilised jars. The grape jelly will keep for up to one year if unopened and stored in a cool dark place, and for a week once opened and stored in the fridge.
Article Published: 12:11, 10th Jan 2011
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