the rewards (of muscadines)

[rockriver]

the 8 to 6 was a tough day.
supper and then to work on a store room..
--
a close associate is making muscadine jelly from wild muscadines.
and i get a shout.. to come help clean out the big pot they've been cooking in.
--
the rewards!!
hallelujah. smooth and sweet..
--
then i got to wordering what it would take to have this when the shtf...

what is pectin?? surejell(sp?) will it store?? how??

folks would trade anything to get a pint of this precious commodity!

rr

[thereisnospoon]

My wife just spent about a week making pear jam, jelly and canned pears from the epars in from the pear tree in the backyard of our current rental.

We don't yet live on our Homestead, but we have already planted raspberry bushes and muscadine grapes, both for jelly and for wine [for medicinal purposes and for taking the lord's supper]. They were planted in the spring and are producing already...only a handful or more, but like I said, it is a great start. I'll try to get some pictures this weekend!

Next are the Fruit and nut trees!

Spoon

[protus]

the 8 to 6 was a tough day.
supper and then to work on a store room..
--
a close associate is making muscadine jelly from wild muscadines.
and i get a shout.. to come help clean out the big pot they've been cooking in.
--
the rewards!!
hallelujah. smooth and sweet..
--
then i got to wordering what it would take to have this when the shtf...

what is pectin?? surejell(sp?) will it store?? how??

folks would trade anything to get a pint of this precious commodity!

rr

pectic is a powder, for the most part its has a "use" by date of 1-2 years. im sure stored correctly it would go longer.
The jellies take a TON of sugar......( our batch posted here took i belive 5 lbs - it was 2 batches canned at once), so make sure you have plenty.
pectin can also be had naturally by certain fruits etc.

[becky3086]

You really don't need pectin to make jelly, especially with grapes, it is that film on the outside of them and jelly can be made without it. You can read more about how at :

http://www.canningpantry.com/making-jelly-no-pectin.html

[Kat]

Wikipedia says: "Apples, guavas, quince, plums, gooseberries, oranges and other citrus fruits, contain large amounts of pectin, while soft fruits like cherries, grapes and strawberries contain small amounts pectin."

This website tells you how to make pectin from scratch using apples: http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com...ger/pectin.htm

From the book Stocking Up III: "The traditional cooked-down method of jam and jelly making simply uses fruit, some liquid like water or fruit juice, and a sweetening. It should be used only with fruits that have a good amount of natural pectin in them. (These include tart apples and crabapples, blackberries, Concord grapes, lemons and oranges, Damson plums, quinces, and raspberries. ) There is usually some guesswork involved in making jams and jellies this way because how the pectin responds and makes a gel is dependent upon the amount of acids and sugar in the mixture, and the ripeness of the fruit. The fruit must contain a sufficient amount of acid to achieve a gel. If the fruit you're working with is low in acid, recipes will call for the addition of lemon juice or citric acid. When using this method, select your fruit carefully. A batch of fruit should contain one-quarter just-ripe fruit and three-quarters fully ripe fruit for best pectin and flavor content. ( Pectin levels drop in many fruits when they ripen.)
Extra pectin- be it commercial pectin or those fruits naturally high in pectin- should be added to fruits that don't have much natural pectin in them, like strawberries and apricots. Pectin can also be added to to other fruits in order to cut down on the cooking time necessary to get them to form a gel. When using honey instead of sugar, added pectin can be especially helpful in cutting down on this cooking time. Jellies made with added pectin also require less fruit than the cooked-down type to make the same amount of finished product.
Commercial pectin is made from either citrus fruit or apples."

Protus- How much sugar did your recipe call for per pound of grapes? Just curious. Thanks.

Rockriver- I've stored surejell for years without it going bad. You could probably can it like any other dried food with oxygen absorbers if you wanted to. I just have a bunch of it in the original boxes in the cabinet. We also figured that if something happened we would probably be eating the fruit raw in order to get all the nutrients and fiber out of it verses cooking it down, canning it and discarding the waste. Our animals like the leftover waste but I'd probably just feed the fruit to them raw if something happened because it would probably be better for them that way too.

[Kat]

I forgot to post this earlier...
Grape juice concentrate can also be made from them if you don't have the pectin for the jelly. I have made this and it is pretty good. I've mixed it with seltzer and with regular water.
Here's the recipe:
Place grapes in a stainless steel or enamel pot and add 1 cup of water for every 7 pounds of grapes. Heat slowly to a simmer and continue to simmer until fruit is very soft. Do not boil. Strain through jelly bag or several thicknesses of cheesecloth. Refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours and then strain once more to remove any sediment that remains. Because of the tartaric acid in it, the sediment lends to the juice a sharp taste that's not at all pleasant. Heat to a simmer and add honey to taste, if desired. Freeze or can. To can, pour the hot juice into hot, scalded jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace for pints and 1/2 for quarts. Process pints and quarts in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.
This recipe is also from Stocking Up III. I've found that the tough muscadine grapes take quite a while to simmer down enough. About an hour or so. 10 pounds of muscadine grapes equals 3 quarts of juice finished and 4 pounds equal 1 qt finished. Approximately. You could also sweeten it with sugar if you didn't have honey.

[monkeybird]

As an aside, Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville has a new winery. They make a marvelous wine from muscadines! I was at a wine tasting there and the muscadine was my favorite. i have absolutely no idea how to make wine, except what I saw on the old Lucy show, but it seems to me it would be a good "bargain" item.

[MJC]

Certo is a liquid pectin in mylar packaging and stores better in humid climates than suregel.