Grapes

One of Matt's buddies, Jeremy, has grape vines in his back yard.  He has talked about using them to make his own wine, as he already makes his own beer, but it just hasn't happened in the couple years since he bought the place.

 

So, not too long ago I got to go grape picking with Matt's brother, Ryan.  Ryan had been planning on going and happened to mention so to Matt and I.   I was lucky enough to get to tag along since I had the day off.

 

Grapes are really easy to pick.  Grab a bunch and snip the stem with a scissors.  Done.  Compared to fruits you pick one at at time you can really make quick progress with grapes.  My basket was full in no time.  I wished I brought a bigger one.

Coincidentally enough we had just decided to send our juicer to the thrift shop.  We really just didn't use it and it took up quite a chunk of space in the cupboard.  It was in the To-Go pile, but we dug it out for making grape juice.  Really, I am not sure it was any easier than if we'd just done it with the manual food strainer/press.  The chute that the fiber flies out is square making it nearly incompatible with my round bowls.  Thus, quite a bit of  pulp ended up on the counter top.  Matt is still confident he can get the juice stains off the counter top, but I am not so sure.  Quite a bit of juice ended up in the pulp too so we ran all of it through the food press anyways.  Thus, I think the juicer may still end up at the thrift shop.

We ended up with four quarts of grape juice concentrate, but gave one pint of it back to Jeremy.  We mix it with just a little less than equal parts water.  Mmmmmm....good.  We don't really buy juice much so I have really been enjoying a little glass with breakfast.  I also ate a good number whole.  They seriously tasted like candy.  Sweet, incredible, grape candy.  You might think I am exaggerating, but I am really not.

Matt intends to make some grape jelly this weekend.  (And I sort of think he HAS forgotten about apple jelly!)