My wife and I took some friends up to our family place in Lampasas County Saturday to put out some bait for the game camera and check on the Mustang Grape crop. We have been watching them this season in hopes of beating the coons and birds to enough ripe grapes to make some jelly for the season. Mustang grape jelly always brings back memories of my grandmothers and my mom making jelly. The process would fill the house with a wonderful sweet, rich grape smell that promised the taste of biscuits filled with butter and the rich grape flavor of the Texas Hill County. It has been many years since I was involved with cooking the juice down from the grapes and I had forgotten how purple and rich the juice from wild mustang grapes becomes as you cook the grapes down.
It looks like it would make a beautiful and tasty wine but I don’t know how to make wine so we will just make jelly this time around. If you have a good family recipe for Mustang Grape wine please send it along so that I can try to make a batch sometime. Anyway here is a good basic recipe for a really pretty and wonderful tasting Mustang Grape jelly. Hope you enjoy the biscuits and peanut butter sandwiches that will taste a whole lot better with your homemade jelly.
Wild Ed
Mustang Grape Jelly
Wash grapes thoroughly and put washed grapes in a cooker, add enough water to cover them. After the water starts to boil, cook the grapes (stirring frequently) until the skins begin to slip. When the skins will slip easily from the grapes, they are ready to press. Strain the cooked grapes and juice through a colander line with a jelly bag or medium textured cloth. Press all the juice from the grapes with a wooden spoon, but do not force the pulp through the colander. Add one box of fruit pectin to 5 cups of juice. Bring this mixture to a rolling boil and then add seven cups of sugar. Stirring constantly bring the mixture back to a rolling boil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. When the mixture forms a string as it is poured from a spoon, remove from heat. Skim all the foam and crystals from the surface, and pour the processed jelly into hot sterilized jars. Seal immediately with canning lids before the jelly cools.
Warning: From personal experience let me warn you to wear latex or similar gloves to pick the grapes as the acid you will get on your hands burns. Also wear old clothes that you do not mind staining as the grapes stain everything they touch. Be very careful about getting the juice on anything you do not want to dye purple as the juice colors anything it is spilled on or wiped up with. Don’t ask me how I know. Wild Ed
7 comments:
Brings back memories of my grandmother's wild blackberry jelly. Nothing like it with hot biscuits. I can relate to the grape jelly.
We used to have a large mustang grape vine running through a post oak in our front yard that our neighbors used to make jelly from. Eventually it started choking the tree and every time during the fall when birds would be migrating through and roosting, my truck would end up with splatters of purple bird poop. Eventually I had to remove it and my neighbors weren't too pleased. Sometimes I do regret having to do that but we have another smaller vine on another property we own.
wonderful site -- thank you so much for sharing!
We just identified the wild grapes growing on our fence. My 11 year old daughter wants to try and make some jelly. She is very excited to try to make jelly for the first time.
I read another recipe that the green mustang grapes could be used for pectin. Do you know what the ratio would be if we want to use the grapes instead of pectin
You will be making some great memories along with some great tasting jelly. Ed
I have no idea how to use green grapes as pectin. Even with store bought pectin my jelly is sometimes runny so I would recommend using pectin and follow the directions closely. Ed
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