Yesterday I started to harvest the ripe grapes and was able to get a couple gallons picked. The grapes are in varying stages of ripeness so I made sure to get the higher percentage ripe bunches, though the not quite ripe ones are still fairly sweet. I am planning on using the grapes for jams or jellies and wine.
The grapes started out around the end of June as tiny little fruit in big clusters all over the plant.
By August 15th the grapes had taken shape and were starting to fill out. The bunches gained weight daily and began to weight the Grape Vine down.
My preference for the grapes is to remove the seeds, stems, and skins before storage. I don't want to have the greenage left in so I decided to use our Kitchenaid mixer with the Food Straining attachment. I stripped the grapes from the larger stems and fed it through the strainer. My oldest gave me a hand in stripping the grapes and enjoyed watching the skin and seeds get extruded out the end of the strainer.
In the end I got over half a gallon of grape juice and pulp from the load of grapes. I poured the juice into an empty 1 gallon water jug and plopped it in the freezer. As I harvest and process more rapes I can top of the jug and start more. It is looking like I should be able to get about 5 gallons of grape juice from my 2 vines.
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Fantastic little tour of you grape operation. Have you ever thought of trying to make wine on a very small scale? If I was growing that quantity of grapes, you better believe I'd be trying to make a bottle of private stock ;)
Exactly my plan. I have a bunch of different berry wines in process now. The end of the hot summer means I can start back making wine. Since I heat water in the kitchen I can't be heating the house up on hot days so I just take a break from vinting until it is cooler.
Following and eagerly awaiting a "how I made berry wine" article from you in the future!
Nice haul of grapes. I haven't gotten any grapes yet, but I think the vines are a little young. I am hoping for next year. I am really looking forward to homemade jellies, jam and wine. My mouth is watering already in anticipation.
I have about 6 quarts of juice I canned from last years grape harvest still in the pantry that I need to make some more jams with. These grapes are about 5 or 6 years old now so are producing pretty well. I just don't know how to train them properly. Still trying to learn that.
We all need to learn lots of things on the homestead. That's what keeps us young and healthy ;) lol
Hey @cecicastor! When did you start growing your grapes?
About four years ago, but I had some sort of blight. So, I cut the back and replanted them in another location about a year ago and they seem to have taken off. Lots of growth, but no flowers or fruit.
Replanting is always a tricky thing... Hopefully they will be ready for the beginning of next September.
Replanting is always a tricky thing... Hopefully they will be ready for the beginning of next September.
I hope so. I am looking forward to my own grapes.
Same here. We have Muscat here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscat_(grape)
Enjoy the harvest time @flemingfarm! We collected the first few chips 3 days ago :)))
These are Somerset Seedless Grapes that are not exactly seedless... but they work really well for juicing. I had to go with ones I felt comfortable would do well in this northly zone.
@steemfluencer I sent you something for the challenge.
I noticed that @flemingfarm! Thank you so much! I'm about to update it on the Sponsors section in the new post later today. In the meantime other people have also contributed and now we have reached the prize pool we had at the end of the 1st challenge. How awesome is that?! :D
Go Ahead, i make this yesterday....
good information on harvesting of grapes.
Pressing the grape a juice is obtained. By fermenting it, we produce wine. You can avoid its fermentation by introducing it in a hermetic recepient and cooking it in a water bath or double boiler to destroy organisms that cause fermentation. In this way we obtain grape juice which possesses the same properties than the fresh grape without any alcoholic content.
Very informative post, upvoted, following you, i like too the clarty of your pictures
@flemingfarm Incredibly pleasant completion of article! Beloved the photographs and outline..