Confabulation

One of my favorite things in the whole wide world
was my grandmother's grape jelly. She made it from
grapes that she and my grandfather grew in their
backyard. Grapes that I loved to steal off the vine
and help them gather late in summer. Grapes that
grew on vines that I despised mowing around when
I was in high school. Grapes that were the most beautiful
shades of purple you've ever seen - mostly because
they were grown with the loving hands of the best pair
of grandparents in the world. (There was also grape
juice, which was kept in big mason jars in the basement,
and I've heard talk about wine, but I never got to
partake in that!)



Maw Maw's grape jelly put anything gourmet, or
store-bought, to shame. Unfortunately, the last jar
of her jelly was eaten about a year ago. She had
Alzheimer's disease and we lost her earlier this year.
She continues to live on in our recipes, stories and
in the grapes that I helped my Great Aunt Maggie
(Maw Maw's sister) and my grandfather harvest
over the weekend. I was determined to rid my
household, and family, of the storebought ickyness
that is called grape jelly - and renew their spirits
with a bit of our familial past. Maggie helped me.



We used grapes off our Muscadine vine - there are
scuppernongs, too, but they're in bad shape and I plan
to take them under my wing, with the help of Paw Paw,
and bring them back to their former glory for next
year. We poured over recipes, including my grandmother's,
but no one knows exactly how she made her jelly -
color on the verge of pink and sweet, yet still grape-flavored
- so we did our best. I'm ashamed of myself for having
never learned Maw Maw's art, but I know she'd be proud
of the 24 jars sitting in Maggie's kitchen this year.



Next year will be even better: I have visions of mini
jars, purple lids and fancy tags. But this year I'm
content to have jelly to pass out to friends and family -
regardless of its packaging. It was so fun, and so satisfying,
to make something so loved by so many people I know.
It's a family tradition that I plan to pass on to my children
and beyond, I hope!



Rachel Long's Grape Jelly
(Made from Muscadine grapes, fresh off the vine in
North Carolina)

1.) We started with three huge pans of freshly picked grapes.
They must then be picked through, de-stemmed and thoroughly
washed. We then cheated a bit and put them through a food
processor. We poured all of the contents into (homemade)
strainers and let them drain overnight.

2.) In a large pot (as pictured) we found the perfect ratio
for our jelly to be three cups of grape juice to one cup of
water, which we let come to a hard boil.

3.) We then added three cups of sugar to the juice, brought
it to a hard boil - at this point you MUST watch the juice c
arefully. It will boil over and make a mess if you don't stir it!
We dropped the heat and let the juice boil until a metal spoon
dipped into it yields to sticky drops, almost stringy, which let
you know the juice is now jelly!

4.) Let the hot jelly cool, and skim off "the bad bits." That's
what Maggie called them and I have nothing else to tell you!
You'll know what it is - sort of like the film that you get on
heated milk. You then fill sterilized jars, almost to the very
top of the threads, with the jelly, and let it cool.

5.) Once cool, we spooned melted parafin wax over the jelly
to keep it fresh and free of bacteria. I have no idea how long
it can be stored, but for quite some time. Maw Maw kept hers
in the basement, which is where all her canned food was, for
as long as it lasted, which wasn't long since we all loved it so
much and asked for it often!

Enjoy!