Okay, I am getting really hokey here. I know. I just can’t help myself.
I am a sucker for alliteration.
As Pepper-palooza draws to an end, our grapes were ready for harvest. So prepare yourselves…for……
During the weekend of July 28, we began our harvest. I went out on Saturday morning at 8:00 and picked two and a half 5 gallon buckets full. (Our bees have found the grapes and once a bird makes a peck or two, they dive in for the juice. I had to dodge them as I picked and one became my escort around the yard for the rest of the morning.)
These were the grapes in mid-June.
Here they are now.
Picked for “table eating” on the patio.
Harvest time.
How many pounds?
So, when I reported to The Hubs that I thought we had enough to make jelly, jam, and wine, he scoffed.
Then I put him to work pulling each and every grape off the stems. After he had prepared four pounds for me for jam plus a 6 gallon bucket full of nothing but grapes, he planned a trip to the brew store for supplies.
We had made wine once just for fun. We signed up for a mini-wine making class at a local winery about five years ago. The vitner there taught us to make wine with frozen Welch’s white grape juice. We “bottled” it in gallon milk jugs.
It was drinkable. 🙂
I have read that you need thirty-four pounds of grapes to make one case of wine. I am pretty sure we have at least twenty pounds in the cooler.
So what can you expect during our Gala of Grapes? Definitely some jam (from The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook), some jelly (from my Great-Grandmother’s recipe for Wild Grape Jelly), and hopefully some wine.
Grapes, grapes and more grapes – how could it get better 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
o my..is there anything else your garden doesn’t have?
As a big fan of alliterations myself (as you well know), I just had to take a moment and tell you that your Gala of Garpes are Glorious…you know I could keep going…
Yahoo! I can’t wait to see it all. I’m so jealous of the grapes. We had some at our old house and I miss them!
Wow, that’s a lot of grapes! I had a mental image of the birds swooping during the picking–Alfred Hitchcock would have appreciated it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.
Gorgeous grapes! Can’t wait to see all your jellies, jams and wine~
Thanks, everyone. I’m glad I didn’t have Hitchcockian birds swooping down upon me.
My grapes didn’t turn out this year. We have a neighbor that makes ours into wine. Not this year! So, I’m living vicariously through your Grape Gala!!!
I’m not counting my bottles before they age, but the wine is smelling wonderful.
I love grapes!! And I love to photograph grapes… like some people (not me!) they are so photogenic. My dad used to grow them and I remember them as some of the best grapes we’ve ever had!
With the dry weather, I am really surprised we got this many. This was the second year for these vines. They’re better because we grew them ourselves,I’m sure. 🙂
Wow, this is awesome! I love that you grew them yourself! Grape envy! <3
Thank, Veronica. We had low expectations so we were really pleased with our 40 lb.+ harvest.
oh i love grapes! i’m actually snacking on some right now! haha i love the red ones:)
These are pretty good to snack on too. It’s just better to be snacking on them on the porch so you can spit seeds! 🙂
The gala of grapes has begun 🙂
What a grape harvest!!!! I’m jealous! You didn’t mention having enough to ship to friends. 🙂 All of those grapes are going to make a lot of some really good eats and drinks! Can’t wait to see the results!
Yes, we were pleasantly surprised. Jam and jelly I have no problem with. Wine? I’m afraid there is a learning curve. 🙂