Concord Grape Jam
- 3 pounds Concord Grapes (Weighed Without Stems)
- 3 cups Sugar
- 3 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 3 jars One Pint Canning Jars, Lids And Rings
- Sterilize 3 (1-pint) jars, along with fitting lids and rings.
- Slip the skins off the grapes. To do so, hold a grape between your thumb and index finger and gently squeeze - the inside should pop right out. Transfer the skins to a food processor and pulse a few times, but do not puree; set aside.
- Transfer the grape insides to a heavy-bottomed, 5-quart pot; cover the pot, bring to a simmer over medium heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Turn heat off and cool to room temperature (this will take a couple hours). Transfer the grape insides to a cheesecloth-lined sieve fitted over a bowl to catch the liquid; gently wring the cheesecloth to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Transfer the liquid back to the pot, along with the processed grape skins, the sugar, and the lemon juice. Bring to a boil over high heat (uncovered), then turn heat down and simmer (uncovered) until jam is done (see one of the tests below), about 35 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Transfer the jam to the sterile jars; the jars should be preserved through proper canning methods or if not, you should store them in the refrigerator.
- *Wash the grapes before you de-stem them, but weigh them after.
- There are three methods I know of for testing when jam is done:
- 1) The Temperature Test: The jam should be at 220F (this is the magic number if you're at sea level, like me); a cheapie candy thermometer works fine here.
- 2) The Sheet Test: Dip a wooden spoon into the jam and hold it sideways over the pot; the jam should fall off in a sheet, or the last jam to drip off should hang off the spoon in a bulging drop but not fall. (You can see what this should look like by clicking on the related blog post.)
- 3) The Freezer Test: Freeze a plate, then put a little jam onto the frozen plate and put it back into the freezer for a few minutes; the jam should gel and not run.
- I like to do both the Temperature Test (because it's reliable) and the Sheet Test (because it's fun!).
- (Adapted from Epicurious.)
sugar, lemon juice, canning
Taken from tastykitchen.com/recipes/canning/concord-grape-jam/ (may not work)