Concorde Grape Jam - from vine to jar

Concorde Grape Jam

   A friend of ours invited me to their home and property to pick grapes and apples...such a wonderful day. Blue skies, light winds, beautiful property and amazing fruit to harvest!  I had a wonderful time gathering Concorde grapes inside their beautiful grape laden arbor!   Sometimes its good to be tall as I could reach bunches that were perfectly ripe for the picking and the smell inside the arbor (pictured below) was amazing, very floral and grape scented.  The grapes themselves are amazing and although they take more work to process for canning, its worth the time and effort.  The seeds are almost as hard as rocks so, running through a hand crank food- mill is preferred *even KitchenAid doesn't want you to run the seeds through their food-mill attachment, because it will destroy it!  Slipping the skins is a process, don't get me wrong - I was glad when I was DONE!  I hope you do try this jam if you have access to Concordes!  Enjoy! Diane     

Concorde Grape Jam 

​Ingredients: 

• 4 cups grape pulp/balls with skins saved (approx. 4 lbs stemmed Concord grapes) 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup honey 
• 1/2 packet of Sure Jel Premium Low Sugar Pectin *if needed, mixed with 2 Tbs sugar  

Yield: About 6 half-pint jars

Procedure:
   Wash your grapes in cool running water, stem grapes and as you stem them - "slip the skins" which means you separate pulp from skins of grapes by pinching the skins off.  I placed the pulp/grape ball in one bowl and the skins in another.  I measured out 4 cups of grape pulp/balls.  Take all the skins and process skins in a food processor/blender or chopper. Cook skins gently 15 to 20 minutes, adding only enough water to prevent sticking (about 1/2 cup). Cook pulp/balls without water until soft; press through a sieve or food mill to remove seeds. Combine pulp, skins, sugar and honey. Bring to medium heat and let mixture cook down,  about 30 minutes.  As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.  If you feel you won't get a good jam set - add 1/2 package of low sugar sure jel pectin with a bit of sugar to the mixture - bring to a hard boil for one minute, then reduce heat and jar. 

Fill hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids.
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Process in a Boiling Water Canner or Steam Canner, 5 minutes and adjust for your altitude.