Grape Jelly

I remember my first year of college in Maine at a tiny college full of earth conscious individuals. My housemates were way ahead of me in terms of wanting to be self-sufficient and depending directly on the earth. I remember them making lots of rather disgusting recipes, but at least they were trying. They collected acorns to make flour that they then baked into bread. It was bitter and awful, but resourceful. They collected wild edibles for teas and berries for jam. I remember the jam was also a disaster and they added more and more pectin and were confused why it still wouldn't set.

Here I am, 15 years later. I finally am feeling domesticated enough where this all makes sense to me enough to want to do it. At least the jelly part anyway, I will skip the acorn bread. I set out to make grape jelly with just my Ball Canning Book by my side.

First I boiled the grapes my friend gave me to break them down.

Then I let the liquid filter through some cheesecloth for several hours to separate the juice from the pulp.

I even used the food mill to turn the pulp into a smooth grape sauce. I have been reluctant to use it because of mess, but after finally trying it I see the appeal.

A couple days later I boiled the grape juice with sugar, then said a little prayer as I poured in the pectin and boiled it for one minute more. The jelly looked really soupy and I was afraid I had somehow repeated the mistakes of my Maine college housemates. But lo and behold, after a couple hours of cooling the jelly set! Now I can add jelly to my no-need-to-purchase-at-the-grocery-store list.