North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Don Yellman <dyellman@earthlink.net>]

For Ward Barnes:

1.  I'm not a grape expert Ward, and at this point have only one grape
vine --- a seeded Concord like yours --- but I will tell you what has
worked for me.  About 2-3 weeks before ripening, I snip off all the
leaves directly shading the grapes with a pruning shears.  I also snip
off quite a bit of the wild, abundant growth that has developed by this
point.  I find if I get sun on the grapes it keeps them from rotting in
our high humidity, and may accelerate ripening by a few days.  With all
the grape clusters visible, I remove any individual grapes that show rot
or damage of any kind, to keep it from spreading to the others.  We are
getting some rain here in N. Virginia too (5 inches Saturday evening),
and a heavy shower right now as I am sending this, but I'm not worried
about grape rot when the vines are opened up like this.  If your grapes
are still sound, and starting to color up as mine are now, it may not be
too late to take off some leaves now.
2.  Our Concords go exclusively for jelly, and if you have had trouble
jelling Concords or anything else, I suggest you try that Pomona's
pectin I mentioned a few weeks ago.  At that time I said you could use
as little as 1/2 of what they recommend for pectin, but on reflection I
would now say 2/3.  Use the indicated amount of calcium solution.  It
will not fail to jell, but make sure you mix the dry pectin well with
your sugar before you add it, however much sugar you use.  Of course,
with Pomona's you can use a lot less sugar if you so choose.
3.  My experience with those pressure canners is that they are overkill
for most things we can.  I've got one that I paid $109.95 for at the
S.S. Co-op, and it just sits in the basement.  They take forever to heat
up and get up to pressure, and then they will blow out a lot of the
things you can, leaving an inch or so of airspace in the jar, and your
product in the water of the pressure canner.  We often just hot-pack our
jellies, after sterilizing the jars and lids, but with this low-sugar
stuff it is surely a good idea to give them a boiling water bath in
addition, for about 10 minutes or less.  Just get a heavy stainless
steel stockpot, preferably with one of those tri-ply bottoms so you can
use it for applesauce too.  They used to be very expensive in the 12-20
qt. sizes, but now you can pick them up on sale (usually made in China
or Korea) for 30-40 bucks.  Still a lot cheaper than a pressure canner,
and more useful in the kitchen.  Your local hardware store might not
mark these things down much, but the bigger retailers and department
stores do.

Best Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA


 

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