My parents have 4 grapevines and, needless to say, one of the vines was ready while we were there. So, my mom and I decided to make grape jelly. (With the kids help of course!) The kids helped pick and squash the grapes. I don't know if many of you know the process for making jelly but this is how grape jelly is done Dryden/Gallegos style. Enjoy!!!
#1 - You start to pick the grapes. Or in Sydney's case, just move them from bowl to bowl. Hey, it kept her busy so I didn't complain.
#2 - Continue picking the grapes until only one of your children is left helping and that child is just making a mess on the ground below you because the bowls are too full.
#3 - While taking a break from picking try posing with all of your children. And then you remember that there is no way you can get all three kids to look at the camera at the same time so you give up and finish filling the bowls with grapes.
#4 - Now you have 3 full bowls of freshly picked grapes. Take them inside, wash and remove the stems. The kids were totally plugged in to the TV at this point. :) So this step goes pretty fast.
#5 - Now you have to squish the grapes. My mom has this handy grape squisher. (I don't know what else to call it, so that is going to be it's official name "Grape Squisher" for this post) So we turned off the TV and had the kids help us with this next step. You place the grapes in the "Grape Squisher" and roll the wooden pin around it, the grapes are squished and the juice falls into the bowl below. Sounds easy enough, right! The girls had fun with it. Isaac tried it a couple of times and then he was done. However, the excitement wore out quickly and my mom and I were left to do the rest of the squishing.
Another shot of the girls squishing grapes together.
And by this point Sydney was done and Jordan and Grandma got some time together squishing grapes together.
#6 - You take the juice, mix it with sugar and a bunch of other stuff and boil it for a few minutes. And when I say sugar I mean a lot of sugar. We used a total of 7 cups of sugar for every 5 jars of jelly that we made. WOW, that's a lot of sugar!!!
#2 - Continue picking the grapes until only one of your children is left helping and that child is just making a mess on the ground below you because the bowls are too full.
#3 - While taking a break from picking try posing with all of your children. And then you remember that there is no way you can get all three kids to look at the camera at the same time so you give up and finish filling the bowls with grapes.
#4 - Now you have 3 full bowls of freshly picked grapes. Take them inside, wash and remove the stems. The kids were totally plugged in to the TV at this point. :) So this step goes pretty fast.
#5 - Now you have to squish the grapes. My mom has this handy grape squisher. (I don't know what else to call it, so that is going to be it's official name "Grape Squisher" for this post) So we turned off the TV and had the kids help us with this next step. You place the grapes in the "Grape Squisher" and roll the wooden pin around it, the grapes are squished and the juice falls into the bowl below. Sounds easy enough, right! The girls had fun with it. Isaac tried it a couple of times and then he was done. However, the excitement wore out quickly and my mom and I were left to do the rest of the squishing.
Another shot of the girls squishing grapes together.
And by this point Sydney was done and Jordan and Grandma got some time together squishing grapes together.
#6 - You take the juice, mix it with sugar and a bunch of other stuff and boil it for a few minutes. And when I say sugar I mean a lot of sugar. We used a total of 7 cups of sugar for every 5 jars of jelly that we made. WOW, that's a lot of sugar!!!
#7 - And finally, pour the boiling mixture into jars, set on the counter and then take a picture to prove that you really do no how to make jelly!!! We made a total of 30 jars that afternoon with 3 large bowls of grapes. And here is the picture for proof.
Okay, so there were a few other steps in there that I probably left out, but let's be honest, those steps just are not as interesting. We were lucky enough to bring back 15 jars so needless to say we should have enough jelly for the year. So, next time any of you come over to our house, don't be surprised if you get something with jelly on top!!!
Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.
