Making and Canning Grape Juice

The grapes are finally ripe and I started picking them to make juice. I  have been looking forward to this grape juice all year! It tastes nothing like store bought! I picked all the white grapes and will get started on the purple ones soon.

Last year I bought a NORPRO Juicer/Steamer. This is so much easier then using a jelly bag to strain the juice! Just wash the grapes and add to the steamer, 1 hour later you have juice.

I also purchased a gas cooker because I wanted to do the majority of the food processing this year outside (without electricity). However, this summer we have had too many days with 100 degree heat index. I decided to process and can the grapes inside.

Canning juice is quite simple too! Start by heating clean jars.

Then, heat the juice.

When the juice reaches 190 degrees (87 C), hold that temperature for five minutes. Then, ladle the hot juice into the hot jars.

Add a lid. (The lids should be heated too.)

Add a band to finger tip tight.

Process according to your geographic location.  (Process times are longer for higher elevations.) 

If you are new to canning, I recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It will give you all the information you need about how to process foods in both hot water bath canning and pressure canning. You can also see more information here in another post I wrote Canning the Summer Harvest.

The white grapes gave me five gallons of juice! God has certainly blessed me with a bountiful harvest!