It has been a very busy week of harvest, primarily centered around the grape vineyard. Last year Kenny and I worked about a week, trimming and pruning vines. I expected a big harvest with all the work that we had put in, but guess what? We didn't get 1 grape! Who would have known that it was not a year for grapes, not only did the tame grapes not produce, neither did the wild. That is the way it works with crops, one year is bumper and then another year is zilch. The key is preserving it while you can and count on a year of reserve, just in case.
THIS year, however, is the year for grapes! This year we have picked 470#'s of grapes!! That is almost double from what we have ever harvested, and I just can't believe it! Needless to say, this past week's days have started and ended, with making juice. I would finish processing in the afternoon in time to get dinner. We would quickly eat, so that we could go and pick another haul for the next day's processing. This helped me so much the next morning to have them all picked and ready, not to mention 2 people picking went much faster. In total it took us 45 min to pick about 90 pounds of grapes, and this was the perfect amount to process in one day! They were just hanging everywhere, and so many colors and kinds! Such a beautiful sight! There are still some out there, but this morning I felt a release to say it was ok to let them go. Its ok, we got the cream of the crop.
I love my steam juice pot! This makes the work of making juice, of any fruit, so much faster and efficient. There is no added water so what you are left with is a pure fruit juice concentrate. This is so helpful in reserving jars and space for unnecessary canned diluted juice. When you are ready to make you just add water, and you are ready to serve!
How the pot works is that it is a 3-tier stacking pot. The bottom is simply the water reservoir that will make the steam which rises to the top pot. This pot is a big colander steamer pot that holds the fruit. Once the steam rises to the lid it has passed through the fruit on top and breaks the cell wall releasing the juice inside each cell. As the juice is released it falls into the middle pot where the juice is collected and stays heated. This middle pot has a hose with a spicket where the juice can run out and fill the jars.
Over the years, what I have learned when doing large batches is to have a continual batch run out into a collection pot. When the pot is filled, I will add sugar to the whole batch and then pour it back into the middle pot to be jarred up. By doing this, the juice is done as a whole batch keeping consistency in taste. Once the jars are filled and lidded, I water bath for 10 minutes just to make sure that they have the best chance to seal.
From this harvest I canned about 115 quarts and 111 pints of concentrate. This juice is now shelf stable and preserved with natures goodness only.... no chemicals or preservatives. You may wonder what I am going to do with all of that juice...besides the fact that it is so yummy. It hits the spot especially in the depth of winter when you yearn for the fresh nutrients. With the juice I can make wine, jelly or add to flavor the water kefir or fermented soda
Here is my amazon affiliate link for the steam juicer I have. https://amzn.to/3Sju4qm
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