Fresh grapes and warming spices make the perfect jam for canning and enjoying. This recipe is perfect for early fall breakfasts, sandwiches, and charceuterie boards.
Fall Grape Harvest
Every year in mid-September, our grapes start to ripen and I know jam is in our future. The grapes that grow in my backyard all small, seeded grapes that taste like Welch's. They've apparently been growing on the back fence for decades (seemingly unmaintained for most of that time).
Although we aren't quite sure what kind of grapes they are and we don't get the biggest harvest, it's always exciting to pick something from the backyard.
Short & Sweet
I won't write much more today because as I type, I am waiting for a call from the hospital telling me when I can come in and have my baby!
I made this jam in mid-September right around her due date (check out my reel on instagram to see me just past 40 weeks pregnant)...and almost two weeks have passed since then. By the time this recipe posts, there should be a baby in my arms.
Enjoy this recipe! More will be coming soon.
Stay riled up & keep the joy in cooking <3
Spiced Grape Jam
The ingredients listed here will get you one very tiny batch of jam, but this recipe easily scales up to make big batches of grape jam for canning.
Ingredients
- 1 c Grapes
- 1/4 c Sugar
- 1 tsp Verjus (optional)
- Cinnamon
- Cayenne pepper
- Fresh grated ginger
To Make Verjus
Verjus is essentially just the juice from unripe grapes. It is acidic and fruity. I love to use it in jam, salad dressings, in soups that need a hint of acidity, etc.
To make it, I throw unripe grapes into my blender and hit extract. After the grapes are as ground up as I can get them, the juice goes through a fine-mesh strainer.
Lemon juice would be a fine substitute for verjus in this recipe.
Directions
- Wash and peel the grapes. Save the peels in a bowl until later.
- Put the grape flesh in a pot over medium-low heat and simmer until completely broken down. Press the grape through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
- Cover the bottom of a sauce pan with a thin layer of suger, and put it over medium heat. As the sugar begins to liquefy and caramelize, stir and add another thin layer of sugar. Repeat this process until all of the sugar is caramelized.
- Very slowly add the broken down grapes to the sugar while stirring. If the liquid is added to quickly, parts of the sugar can re-crystalize.
- Add the grape skins, verjus, and then add spices to taste as the jam simmers.
- Pull the jam off the stove to cool once it becomes gel-like (which usually happens around 220 F if you're using a thermometer to help you)
Basic Grape Jam
Looking for a way easier version of this recipe? I've got you covered!
Follow steps 1 and 2 above, and then put the sugar, verjus, grape pulp, and grape skins into a pot together and simmer until it becomes gel like.
Give it a try? Let me know below!
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