There’s been a whole lotta grape pickin’ going on at the Damsel’s place.
This is a funny picture, because it looks like the Damsel is tightly clutching a bunch of grapes, about to yank them off the vine. That would be a silly way to pick grapes because of smashage and droppage. Rather, she is gently holding the bunch while clipping the stem with nippers.
The Damsel likes picking grapes because it brings back warm memories of childhood, and plus, being outside on a sunny autumn day is tops. Her most favorite way to pick grapes is to go tandem with the Knight. He holds up the vines while she picks. Teamwork!
Now then. Making the stuff into juice is simple as kindergarten. There are other methods, such as stomping with bare feet, but the Damsel really, really likes this way:
This gadget is a steam juicer. The Damsel highly recommends its addition to your arsenal. Grape juice is only the beginning of what it can do, and it makes doing grape juice easy-peasy.
Simply dump the freshly picked grapes–stems and all–into the juicer’s insert, the one with holes in it. It sort of looks like a big colander. Rinse, but don’t stress. Everything is going to get very hot and sterile soon. The Damsel’s main goal is to rinse off spiders.
Now you just put the juicer together. You fill the bottom pan with water and stack the rest on top, turn on the heat, and wait. As you can see the Damsel’s juicer (called “the still”, lol) is way old. It was old when the Damsel was a kid, and it still works fine. After about two hours, you press open the clamp on the hose and juice flows out. You can drain the juice into a pitcher, or straight into a canning jar as you see here. (The Damsel has the canning jar set inside a pot, sitting on a chair, just in case it spills. She has learned through sad experience that grape juice isn’t nice to light-colored grout)
The juice is boiling hot so be careful. If you drain it straight into a canning jar, put the lid on straight away, and it will probably seal itself because of the heat. Technically you should still process the bottles in a waterbath canner for 30 minutes. A juicer-full of grapes will yield about 4 quarts of juice.
Grape juice is the easiest canning project. No peeling, slicing, blanching, or standing for hours hunched over a sink. And with a steam juicer, your feet stay non purple. Win-win.
