When Harvest Is The Lesson

Grape Expectations

Yeah, it's corny. Here at our rental, we discovered a huge over-grown grape vine (likely several) that has been trained (or trained itself) over some large bushes. We could not believe how prolific they were this year, and so we've been going out and picking them while we still can (before they become over-ripe or the birds get them all!). We decided we would preserve them as jelly, and so discussions about what happens to fruit when you boil it with sugar (and in our case also add some pectin) were part of the lesson today!

We also talked about how the hot water canning bath helped to seal the jars shut and keep everything fresh until someone is ready to eat them!

We did a batch of nine (plus a bit more for our fridge) jelly jars out of three pounds of grapes. We have another nearly-two pounds of grapes waiting to be de-stemmed, so we're hoping to go back out again tomorrow and get another couple of pounds worth so we can do a second batch. We're hoping to give some of these away as holiday gifts.

How could we ignore nature's bounty right outside our doorstep?!

Can there be any greater lesson than how to grow, harvest,
and preserve your own food? 

Personally, I do not think so!

(After several attempts to get them both to look at the camera, I settled for this closed-eye shot)

I have been told that you can also make grape jelly out of grape juice from the store, so you could skip all of the de-stemming, straining, etc. if you wanted to put away some of your own homemade grape jelly but did not have easy access to fresh grapes (or if you wanted it a bit less intensive of a process).

I hope you try your hand at preserving some of your own food with the great harvest of food that is still coming in off of the fields in September. It is very rewarding and a great skill to have!