Canning Time: Apples and Grapes

I mustered up a bit of energy to do some canning (with more yet to come!). We have two different grape vines in my back yard. One purple grape and one green grape. Both produce delicious fruit.

This year the birds feasted upon the purple grapes. I watched them each day this late summer as I sat stagnate on the couch as they plucked the grapes away one by one. I suppose it was a blessing and a curse, as my good friend Monk would say. I didn’t really want to have to pick and can them all, but I hated them to go to waste and the birds were making a mess of my back patio!

My older sister has never canned anything so I convinced her now is her season to learn and get some grape juice out of it. She came over and we picked the remainder of the grapes. We got about ½ of my huge galvanized tub filled up, then went to work washing and plucking grapes to throw into the steamer.

We only got 4 ½ quarts of juice but it was fun to show my sister the ropes of canning grape juice.

I made one tray of raisins in the dehydrator. Lil’Miss loves these juicy, sweet raisins.  She just can’t get enough.

I also canned 10 pints of apple sauce and 10 pints of apple-pear sauce. I carefully groomed and tended to the two apple trees we have in the back yard. I sprayed for the first two months following little buds, hoping to keep away little pests. I started noticing my efforts were in vain and the little pests were coming anyhow, so I quit spraying. In the mean time we had a late frost where we lost nearly all the blossoms on the Macintosh apple tree.

I was able to salvage enough apples from the other tree to make one batch of the most delicious applesauce. Oh they are good apples (Johnagold, I am guessing). I hope we can master these trees one of these years so I can use the apples for all sorts of goodies.

So… the remainder of the applesauce came from apples from the store. It still turned out good, but not as sweet and yummy as my first batch.

Stay tuned, there is a huge sale on chicken breast from a wholesaler where I am able to get boneless/skinless chicken breast for $1.48/lb.

So I am stocking up for the next year. I have purchased 80 lbs. Half of it will be frozen and half of it I am going to can. This will be my first canning experience using a pressure canner! I am excited for the new adventure. I am even more excited to have a major stash of chicken on hand.

Happy Canning!