Poison Grape Jam.

"He who's afraid of the wild berry is only afraid to live."

I am more than thrilled to boast that I was able to make it to my wild Concord grape vines this year. The bounty unfortunately was not quite as plentiful as last year. I was working with a very small time frame and I knew the picking was going to be hit miss.

According to my bathroom scale I ended up with a nice 5 pound sack of grapes. The majority of the vines I've grown to love were actually quite barren this year. I'm not sure if this is in regards to weather/rain cycles or if I maybe just missed the peak picking time. Either way grapes are grapes, I'm not complaining.


I'll spare you the details as I posted grape jam instructions last year. I always reference Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving, the book is very easy to follow, it's an essential read for anyone who really wants to take home preserving to the next step. For the wild grape jam all you need are some canning jars, a box of pectin, sugar, water, grapes of your choice and some patience. I ended up with 17 jars in total from 5 pounds of fruit. This is THE most flavorful grape jam I've ever had. The smell of these grapes in the kitchen was so intense it almost seemed artificial. It's so so good, it even goes on the occasional grilled cheese.

I think I'm in love with home canned goods. I've been pretty busy so I haven't had a chance to preserve as much as I would have liked from this season. If anyone out there wants a jar of jam I'll be more than happy trade it for something delicious you've canned yourself.

Someday I'll be popping open jars from my pantry in the middle of winter and smile because I knew I grew it all. Until then...

Through the mill

We’ve had wild Concord grapes on the mind for a good week now. While riding bikes around the city we came across a patch with literally hundreds. Unfortunately they we’re just out of arms reach. After trying to hatch a scheme to acquire these we finally moved on and decided to look for others.

Yesterday it was just too nice to sit in traffic after work so we decided to go on an expedition in the woods. We had a few spots in mind out side of the city to check for grapes and sure enough they were ripe for the picking. We spent 2 hours picking wild Concord grapes from 3 different locations outside of Boston. We were so excited with our booty we brought our bushel right to the bathroom scale. We walked away with 10 pounds!

This begin phase 1 of wild Concord grapes.

We’ve taken 5 pounds of our grapes for jam making.

Very simple recipe

· Simmer 5 pounds of cleaned wild Concord grapes with 1 cup of water
· Run the simmer reduced product through a food mill. This will remove all the seeds and any tough skins.
· You should have about 6 cups of grapes after the mill. Simmer this with one box of pectin.
· Once dissolved add up to 7 cups of sugar.
· Can away…

This was actually quite labor intensive from vine to canned jam we spent around 6 hours. After the jam sets we will know if it’s worth it.

Some tips for finding wild grapes in your area. We’ve actually been finding them close to sources of water such as streams, ponds and swamps. They have also been on the edge of the wooded areas in sunny locations. Look high and look very low. Don’t be afraid to use your nose to follow the scent.