Suppose you are like me and want to get more involved in simple, safe outdoor activities that everyone, even little ones, can enjoy while adding food-related sustenance to your life; making grape jelly is a great start! Here's a quick guide to the Texas native Mustang grape and how you and your family can get involved in this simple process with little to no experience and few resources.
THE MUSTANG GRAPE
Texas is a great place for grapes; several species grow wild in the Lone Star State. Out of all these varieties, the mustang grape is the most common in central Texas. This grape is incredibly easy to find and identify. It grows as a prolific vine that crawls up and shades out trees, shrubs, human-made structures, and pretty much anything in fields or off-roadways that provides vertical structure to grow upon. Once you identify your first mustang grape, you notice they exist everywhere. Many individuals can find at least one productive plant within walking distance of their residence.
Identifying the plant includes dark green smooth leaves with shallow to no lobes (sometimes plants are heavily lobed, but this is rare) with pale silky undersides. The leaves are close to 3/4 inches wide and are concave. The plants will have large, deep purple grapes growing on the vines by early July. Unlike many grape vines you think of, the grapes do not grow in large clusters with numerous individual grapes.
The grape has a tough outer skin that peels easily off the inner gelatin-like substance that makes up all grapes. The taste is very tart due to the high acidity in the grapes. For these reasons, jellies and wines with high amounts of sugar are the primary uses of these grapes.
Collecting the Grapes
As mentioned, this is an excellent activity because most people can find these grapes within walking distance of their homes. For me, the grapes grow heavily on the east side of my apartment complex. The proximity makes it easy for all ages and abilities to engage in foraging and processing one's food from the earth around them.
There are a few minor precautions once you come across a grapevine. Where there are vines, shade, and mowed edges, there will most likely be our friend poison ivy. Poison ivy is a native vine like the mustang grape with three distinct leaves. This should be a manageable hold-up; just be cautious, especially if you have little ones around.
When you do pick your grapes, you may want to wear gloves. The high acidity in the grapes can lead to itchy and irritated skin for some who are on the more sensitive side.
Try not to pick each individual grape from the vine. You may end up ripping the outer skin off and damaging the grape. Instead, pull the stems off with the grapes attached. Removing stems comes at a later stage and is very easy.
Collect as many grapes as you and your friends/family would like, but I usually collect at least 1.5 lb to 2 lb to have enough to make a few jars.
The Process
Remove any large debris like leaves and insects from your batch and give your grapes a friendly rinsing to ensure as much sediment and smaller items are gone when you start making the jelly.
Place the grapes and stems in a pot large enough to hold the grapes and water you will add. I usually add enough water to where the grapes are barely covered or the top layer of grapes is still barely exposed. Some recipes say to cover all grapes in water.
Bring the water to a rolling boil and leave the heat on medium-high for an hour. Stir occasionally and scrape off the syrupy edges into the boiling grape soup. Watch the pot and add water as necessary. Near the end of the initial boiling process, I squish the grapes with a spoon to see how tender they are. The grapes should split and be a reddish-brown color.
Strain your juice into a separate bowl or container. I used a fine mesh strainer, but if you want to ensure that as much sediment and other pollutants don't get into your jelly, feel free to use a cheesecloth.
Time to make the jelly! Pour your super tart grape juice back into your large pot, after you clean it out of course, and add equal parts sugar to the juice. That's a lot of sugar, so feel free to use less if you really want. Remember this grape is very sour though!
Adding a few squirts of lemon juice is optional but I think it adds a nice flavor and helps the juice solidify into a cohesive jelly.
Another option is adding pectin. Many folks use pectin, which is fine, but I do not for this jelly. Pectin will help bind the juice into a jelly more effectively than relying just on sugar, heat, and the acidity of the grape and lemon.
Stir ingredients as the juice comes to a boil on medium-high heat. I stir the juice a little more frequently at this stage. After 10 minutes of cooking check to see if the jelly is ready. Take a chilled metal spoon and drizzle some juice onto it. Let the juice sit on the chilled spoon for about 30 seconds. Run your finger through the blob of grape juice and make a little pathway. If the juice stays separate and slowly forms back, then your juice is ready for bottling. If the juice quickly retakes its form, keep boiling. My juice usually takes longer than 10 minutes with this recipe.
Pour your jelly (it will be runny at a high temperature) into cleaned glass jars and cover with lids. Place jars in the fridge to cool and thicken up. This jelly will be good for three weeks without adequately sealing and canning the jars.
Recipe - Mustang Grape Jelly
Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 lbs of mustang grapes
- equal parts granulated sugar to grape juice
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Rinse grapes thoroughly and remove large pieces of debris including leaves and insects. No need to remove stems.
Place grapes in a large pot and cover just barely with water. Put on medium-high heat and let the grapes come to a rolling boil for no more than an hour. Stir occasionally.
Remove pot from heat and filter the grape juice from the grapes and debris using a strainer and cheesecloth.
Clean the pot of debris and grapes. return the grape juice to the pot and place on medium-high heat. Stir in sugar and lemon juice until combined. Let the juice come to a boil for at least 10 minutes.
Drizzle some juice onto a chilled metal spoon. Run your finger through the juice after waiting thirty seconds. If the juice stays parted, you are ready to bottle. If not, keep boiling.
Helpful Resources:
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=vimu2 Plant identification article
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjx_Rjswu4Y Plant identification video
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