Really, the garden, yard, and flowerbeds have been totally neglected this year.  I was able to mulch the back beds and get them looking relatively good before the July Fourth holidays.   I layered newspaper and cardboard over most of the garden and actually mulched with weeds that I had to pull to even find the garden path.   I also did that in July.

It’s amazing that I was even able to pick anything but I have been fortunate to get a few cucumbers and squash (before they died), some eggplant and lots of peppers.  Most of our tomatoes have come from pots on the patio.

Sigh.

I noticed (when my sister’s family was visiting during the first of August) that the grapes were actually doing pretty well with all the neglect.   We had not kept up on pruning but luckily have had plenty of summer rain.   Of course, it was two weeks later before I had time to pick them.   I was still able to salvage a five gallon bucket of a grapes.   The grapes were from our vines and were mostly Cynthiana variety.

The grapes were still sweet and juicy and I needed to preserve this taste of our neglected summer.

Spiced Grape Jam (2.0)

By Debra

Ingredients

• 6 c. grape juice from about 4 lbs. grapes
• 2 1/2 lbs. sugar
• zest of one orange
• 2 oz. fresh orange juice (about the juice of said orange)
• 3 oz. bottled lemon juice
• 1/2 T. apple pie spice
• 1 pkg. powdered pectin (6 T. if using bulk pectin.)

Instructions

1. Process grapes to yield 6 c. grape juice. (See this post.)
2. Add the grape juice, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice and spices to the large kettle.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often. Continue to cook until a candy thermometer reaches 220 F.  and then add in the pectin and stir until it’s dissolved
4. Bring to a boil for one minute and then take off the heat.
5. Ladle the jam evenly into sterilized  jars, making sure to leave a 1/4″ headspace.
6. Place lids and rings on the jars and place in jar rack and lower into boiling water. Make sure water covers jars by at least 1 inch.
7. Process for 10 minutes then remove jars with a jar lifter.  Let set for one day then check to make sure they are sealed.
8. Store in a cool dry place until ready to use.

Yield: 7-8 half pints

Here is version 1.0:

Spiced Grape Jelly (from Farm Journal’s Cookbook)

Version 1.5:

Spiced Grape-Orange Jam

And, the vintage recipe that started it all:

Wild Grape Jelly

I grape jelly homage to my ancestors.