27 September 2021 Concord Grapes (Processing) Posted on 09/29/2021 by Durgan 27 September 2021 Concord Grapes Picked 180 pounds of Concord grapes from a commercial grower for 20 d0llrs per bushel. Quantity was 4.5 bushels. A full bushel weighs 40 pounds. These will be procesed into juice about 2 pounds of fruit for a liter for around a total of 90 liters. Process is wash, remove substrate, add water to cover,cook in batches of 20 pounds and make a slurry.Strain through a 2mm mesh screen to remove seeds. Place in liter jars and pressure can at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for storge. Pictures delineate the process. SLURRY This is making the slurry. It took five hours to process the 180 pounds of Concord grapes. 29 September 202 Concord Grapes Making slurry 29 September 2021 Concord Grapes Making slurry The grapes were very mature and sweet. Weight was about 180 pounds. Process: Wash, place on chicken wire mesh and swipe the grapes across to remove substrates. Add water to make drnkable cover. Cook until soft about 20 minutes. Blent with hand blender to make a slurry. Pour in trnsport buckets. This takes about 5 hours to process the 180 pounds of grapes. The next stage is to strain. STRAINING 29 September 2021 Concord Grapes Straining 29 September 2021 Concord Grapes Straining The slurry is strained Twenty five pound of residue mostly seeds fed to birds over four days. + The juice is canned in 7 liter jars at one time for an hour each time, the capacity of the canner. 29 September 2021 Concord Grapes Pressure Canning 29 September 2021 Concord Grapes Pressure Canning Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 27 September 2021 Concord Grapes | Leave a comment | Edit 26 Sept
I have been processing Concord grapes about mid September in Zone 5. The grapes taste sweet when the skin is broken, but the juice is slightly bitter. This year I left picking until near the end of September, and found the juice to be sweet with no bitterness. Conclusion pick Concord grapes in late September in Zone 5. The juice is perfect. IMO. Just an observation.
Durgan, do you process the the juice for an hour under pressure? The (US) National Center for Home Food Preservation recommends a hot water bath for 5 minutes for a quart jar and doesn't say anything about pressure canning. I do my grape juice in a pressure canner set at 6 psi for 5 minutes, and that works well. You probably could reduce your processing time.
I do all vegetable Pressure Canning at 15 PSI for 15 minutes. SLURRY. Experiment has indicated it works. Safe and convenient. Several thousand times used and I am alive ad healthy. Never had any spoilage and ingest some daily.
30 September 2021 Concord Grape Juice Posted on 09/30/2021 by Durgan 30 September 2021 Concord Grape Juice 30 September 2021 Concord Grape Juice A picture of the juice made. Notice the texture. The juice has body. It is sweet with no bitternss.