Making Healthy, Homemade Grape Juice (Vegan, Paleo)

For the last 2 years, my cousin and I have been making/canning something healthy in the fall. Something we’d never done before, and wanted to try out. Last year we made apple butter, and instead of putting a ton of unhealthy white sugar in, we put in Maple Syrup that our friends made locally! If you would like to get some, you can purchase it at ShumakeSugarShack.com So this year we decided to make GRAPE JUICE!!!! So step 1….pick em.

These are delicious Concord grapes, and the gentleman the grew them has gone on to be with the Lord. He was like a grandpa to me and I miss him dearly. On another note, he didn’t spray the grapes or anything so they are toxin free!! A good way to tell if the grapes are ready is if you can just break the whole cluster off easily. Also grandpa told me they are best after a frost. It hasn’t frosted here yet but the some of the grapes were already drying out. You will have some clusters where most of them are ready and some aren’t. Go ahead and pick them because if you wait, they ripe ones will start to go bad quickly.

As you can see, we had a few little helpers with us. They enjoyed throwing grapes at each other more than picking them, but they did help a  little. Another tip when picking grapes…the ones that get the most sun are probably the most ripe, and are more likely to have completely ripe clusters.

No worries, I’m gonna start putting pictures of the process on. I just am kinda in love with the pictures I got. I’m a very aesthetic person, so please bear with me. When I picked a perfect cluster of grapes it was SO SaTiSfYiNg!!!

Step 1: De-stemming and lemme tell ya…with the amount of grapes we got, this took FOREVEERRRRRR!!! We got about 4 walmart bags full. We later got the bright idea of leaving them on the stems, and i’ll explain why you can do this shortly.

Step 2: Washing with cold water the crisp them and be sure to check for webs, worms, etc.!

Step 3: Steaming in the best creation EVER!!

I know this isn’t the greatest angle or quality but i’ll link the steamer here if you’d like to purchase one. Thankfully my cousin’s neighbor let us borrow hers. BLESS HER!! So you put water in the bottom section for the steaming effect. The great thing about the steamer is…you don’t have to MASH, DE-STEM, SEED, or anything else!! We just put the grape clusters in the top section, and the steamer does the rest!!

Facing the spout towards your counter top is a fantastic idea! That way you can just put a big pot underneath to catch the grape juice. It comes out in spurts. When we started it was enough to fill a quart jar. As it got going, it would do enough to fill 3 quart jars. Be sure to never let the water run out in the bottom!! Also, you can add grapes as they go down, but after about 2 times of adding you should probably dump out the grapes and put an entirely fresh batch in. If you don’t, the old grapes turn to a sludge that the juice can’t get through so it takes FOREVER to get a jar.

Make sure you DON’T STIR the grapes. If you do, you’ll push sediment through the strainer and possibly seeds. If you just leave ’em alone…you get a nice clear juice. (Clear of anything but juice type clear) Be sure to have your lids, and jars hot when putting the juice in so they will seal. I recommend putting your jars in the oven on the lowest setting. Then just take each one out separately when you’re ready to fill them. The lids you can boil and leave them in the water. They’ll stay hot for a while. What we did, was heat them up between each draw. That way they stayed hot. USE OVEN MITTS WHEN HANDLING JARS AND LIDS!!! If you don’t have a good pair I recommend the silicon kind. You can buy them with the link.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!! Always looking for new recipe ideas and suggestions too! You can find me on Instagram (ac_unit18) Facebook and Pinterest  (Amy Croasmun)