Concord Grapes

A few weeks ago, I stopped by a neighbors house and her husband asked if we liked grapes. They had canned all the grapes they wanted for the year. Would I like to cleans off the vines? 

Umm...yes, please. 

After a mere hour, I had gleaned 10 gallons of them. Now what?  I got them home and cleaned a small batch to munch on while we figured it out. 

Our neighbor also mentioned that they used a steamer juicer and it made it so much easier than than colander and cheesecloth method. I'm all for easier. 

So I looked them up online and debated the merits of each. With no time to spare I made a rather big impulse buy. 

(Merry Christmas to me!)

The juicer is in the back. I didn't get a great picture of it. The bottom pan is filled with water. The middle one has a cone shaped opening in the center (for the heat to rise through).  It also has a tube coming out the side that drains the juice. Then the top pan has a colander bottom. You put the fruit in this one. 

 

After hours of making sure only the good grapes went in and all the sour ones went out to the chickens, we loaded up the juicer. 45 minutes later...

Ta Da!  Juice!

 

We ended up with 14 Quarts of Concord grape concentrate. Soon to be turned into grape jelly. Everyone's favorite (so it seems)