|
Wash and stem grapes. Juice the grapes. You can use a regular juicer or a steamer juicer. The steamer juicer can handle many more grapes at once making it ideal if you are processing large amounts of grapes. Once you have the juice, you can strain it if you like. Use a jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. You can also set the juice in the refrigerator over night, allowing the sediment to settle. Simply pour off the clear juice in the morning, leaving the sediment behind. This method doesn't work very well if you are dealing with large amounts of juice. I don't usually worry about straining, I like the more rustic look of the unstrained juice. Plus I just really don't want another step to complete. You can sweeten the juice at this point if you want to. I don't.
When you get your juice ready to can, heat it up to nearly boiling and pour into prepared, hot canning jars. You want the jars hot or pouring the hot juice into them may cause them to crack. Attach lids and process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes for quart size jars. Allow to cool and add personalized labels.
To serve, mix juice with equal parts water and add sugar if desired. We sometimes mix the juice with lemon-lime soda to make a fun and easy punch that both children and adults can enjoy.
|