I LOVE doing things the Old Fashioned Way!
I think that sometimes our grandmas and great grandmas did things better their way than we do ours. I also believe that of we don’t learn how to do it, then who the heck is going to teach out children and grand children.
What is we get a big snow storm and can’t leave the house for two weeks? How much food do you have in the house? Canning and creating your own types of food could be very resourceful in that type of situation.
Here my “Old Fashioned” way of making grape juice from grapes….
Pick your grapes from the vine or buy them at the store, IT’S YOUR CHOICE. The best juices and jelly is made from a variety of grapes so mix it up a bit.
Now that you have your grapes, the next part is a bit time consuming.
1. Have a paper towel to kill your random bugs that may have entered your home with the grapes
2. I take my bucket, turn on a great TV show, and then pluck them off the stems and place them in a strainer. (Make sue the grapes are all ripe, not hard green grapes)
3. Wash the grapes to ensure no pesticides or bugs enter the pot ur cooking them in.
Next put the grapes in a large nonstick pot on medium heat.
For ever 8cups of grapes I add about 2 cups of water. I don’t add with all at once though. I prefer to see how thick the juice is when I begin to cook it down. (Use your judgment on this)
Watch the grapes cook down and occasionally stir. After about 30minutes I usually start popping the ones that haven’t cooked down yet.
After you don’t see anymore “non” popped grapes you can take the pot off the heat.
Be sure to have cheese cloth or a corse pillowcase. Drape it over another pot or bowl.
Pour everything into the “bag.” Careful! It will splash and is very hot! I always put a towel under the bowl I’m pouring into.
Hang the bag above the bowl/pot and let it drip overnight. After those 12 hours I squeeze the juice from the bag.
Above is my way of setting up my operation. Others hang theirs in their basement from the beams. Use you own digression.
Then pour the juice into a clear jug. From here you can can your juice, freeze it, or use it right away.