Thursday, September 19, 2013

Walnut Grape Jam


What's a girl to do with an abundance 
of grapes this year?


Walnut Grape Jam,
does that sound as intriguing to you as it
did to me?
Rettabug at The Gazebo House
posted a comment on my


saying if she were me, she would be making
Walnut Grape Jam,
and that her parents and grandparents
had grape arbors and they always
made Walnut Grape Jam.


I had planned on trying my hand at 
grape juice
so I went out and bought a steam juicer.


They also had half gallon jars at the
Mending Shed
in town where I bought the juicer
so I bought a case of six of those.
What fun it was to juice more than 20 lbs. 
of Concord grapes and bottle the juice.
(I was able to get 4 half gallon jars - almost
full out of that many grapes.)


I couldn't stop thinking about Rett's
idea so I got on the internet and searched
for Walnut Grape Jam and a recipe
came up for
by Wenger Grapes that added 1 C. of walnuts
to the recipe.  So I decided to give it a try.
I left a couple of jelly jars plain grape jelly
for those who didn't want nuts in theirs.
I got excited about the combination.
My sister Jean in Texas always brings me
a peach topping with pecans in it, so why not
grape with walnuts. 

I just followed the recipe in the 
Sure Jell
box for freezer grape jelly
using my already preserved grape juice
and added the walnuts before spooning
the jam/jelly into the jelly jars.
I had Trader Joe's Candied Walnuts on hand
and those worked great.

Walnut Grape Jam
(or Jelly if you want)

2 C. grape juice
4 C. sugar
 2 T. water
1 envelope Certo Sure Jell Pectin
(I used the liquid pouches)
1 1/2 C. sugared walnuts, chopped
(or you could use plain - I would toast them for flavor first)

Directions (I just followed the package directions.)

Place the grape juice in a bowl and add sugar, measuring 
accurately.  Stir occassionally for 10 minutes.  Then in a small bowl
place the water and pectin and stir together.  Stir it into
the grape juice mixture.  Stir for 3 minutes.  The sugar should
be almost completely dissolved by now.

Now stir in the walnuts.  I only used 1 C. walnuts as I didn't
put walnuts in all of my jars, so if you don't want walnuts in
some, spoon the jam into sterilized jars that are to be left plain
before you stir in the walnuts to the remaining jam.  Spoon
the remaining jam with walnuts into sterlized jars.
This makes about 6 C.

Cover with sterlized lids.  Let sit on the counter overnight
to jell.  Store in fridge if you are eating it right away
or in the freezer.



If you are a nut lover, you are going to love this
great combination.  We ate some on toast
and some just by the spoonful.  I think this
calls for a batch of homemade rolls - ooh, a major
downfall of mine!

Thanks Rett for the great suggestion.  
My daughter with four kids chose a jar
without nuts, but she loved the one with nuts herself.

I will be posting with




Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

7 comments:

  1. Oooohhh, I love making jellies and jams! Walnuts?! Delightful!

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  2. Walnuts and grapes are a new combination to me but it sounds great Jacqueline-enjoy:@)

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  3. I'm thrilled to know I inspired you to try it, Jacqueline! I bet my Mom & Dad & my grandma, too, are smiling down from Heaven, knowing that someone else has followed their lead.

    Shortly after my grandmother died, I was sent down to our basement shelves to get some jam & there was only ONE jar of grape walnut left. I cried!! I thought I'd never be able to have any again. YEARS later, I told that story to my Dad & he said "Why didn't you tell me? I know how to make it!" So we did...together! I've made it several times since his passing, too. Now you've got me itching to do it again this year.

    My Sweetie, Ms. C. prefers it without nuts so I made her one special plain jar but everyone else wants nuts.

    I'm SO glad you liked it!
    Hugs,
    Rett

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rett, has lots of great advice! I love her family story about this jam. It sounds delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks so good and so does your juice..bravo.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As I like nuts in everything, this combo sounds delicious. Fellow bloggers inspire us to create nice things.
    Judith

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am looking at two banker's boxes full of white grapes that I picked this morning. I'm off to tackle them. I love the creativity of the nut jelly. Too bad no one at my house can eat it. It's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

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