Canning grape juice

Shortly after we were married I was introduced to canning grape juice by my mother-in-law. She had been doing it for years since her children were little, and taught me how to do it when April was little. I remember spending long weekends at their house in early October or sometimes late September helping her can the grape juice for only a few short years. But, several years have gone by since we have done it together. The past few years she would just give us a few jars from what she had processed on her own. I got to thinking about how we don't do that anymore more, and started asking Mike about it and mentioned that we'd be happy to go down and help her pick the grapes and process them, especially if it meant we got more! But, also because I missed doing that. The boys had never really had the opportunity like April had when she was little, and I enjoyed that time with his family. We couldn't make it down for the first batch, but when we went down last weekend there was more to pick. Oh, by the way, these grapes are picked from Mike's Grandmother's garden. So, it's even more special. She has a grape vine that grows delicious dark purple concord grapes. I need to get a picture of her grape arbor someday. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the picking part.

First we picked grapes at Great Grandma's house. Oh how fun it was! The boys really enjoyed it, and they all pitched in. When they were tired or couldn't reach anymore they went inside and visited with Great Grandma.

Then, we brought them home to process ourselves because we ran out of time on Saturday. We spent most of the day processing them on Sunday during our church general conference. Mom loaned us her juicer, gave us directions, and we (Mike and I) worked together to get it done. It took the better part of the day (several hours to get through it all). We started with 2--five gallon buckets, and 2 little buckets full.

The grapes after we picked them. Time to wash and get all those sticks and yard debris out.

Next we had to do a 2 step wash. The kids helped a bit with this, but mostly this was me. This is a very tedious job! But, I tell you, homemade grape juice is so worth it.

The grapes go through a 2 wash process to get all dirt and stuff off. The right is the 1st wash, the left is the 2nd.

Alex helped me with at least half a bucket before he got tired.

All the grapes nicely washed and ready for the juicer...

This is the juicer that Mom loaned us. She has had this for a very long time. Still works great! Basically it has water in the bottom that is boiled, that steams up through the grapes, and the grapes release their juice. The juice comes out that tube, and straight into the jars.

The grape juice is so hot from cooking so long that the jars don't need processing, and they seal on their own. That popping sound is always so fun to hear. We also make sure the jars are clean and the lids are fresh. We ended up with 24 quarts!

There is a lot more that goes into that whole process, but that is the basic idea. I've only canned 3 things in my life, peaches (on my own, once), apples (a handful of times, and not always successfully), and grape juice (usually with mom-in-law), and it's always such a neat feeling. I really enjoyed doing this and I am thankful to Mike's family for sharing their tradition (and grapes) with us as we pass this down to our children.