About Them Apples. . .part II

Planned on just throwing the apple scraps to the chickens, but just couldn't do it. So after freezing about a dozen quart bags of apple slices for apple pie or such later, I focused my attention on making pectin. Not the white granulated kind, but the liquid kind. Hopefully I can get enough pectin to use for the grape jelly.

I took a boatload of apple peelings and cores and cooked them on low for the WHOLE day. I added water occasionally, just enough to keep it from burning. I stirred it often and by the end of the day I had very little to work with. After cooling, I strained it thru an old t-shirt. It turned out to leave me 3.75 cups of pectin. Since I wasn't ready to use it right now, I froze it and I will have to boil it down for about 8 minutes when I need it.

All the directions I can find say to use about 1 cup boiled down pectin per 1 quart of berries/fruit. I will update you on if this works. So far I am not convinced this is worth the effort, due to the fact I didn't get a whole lot of pectin, but I am glad I at least know how to do this, you know, in case that strange granulated stuff ever goes missing from the store.

About Them Apples. . . .

I was talking to my neighbor last week and he said I could have all the apples on his tree. Cool! I spent a couple of days picking them, trying to process them as I picked, but I was soon overloaded with apples. I don't know what kind they are, but they seemed a bit tart, like a Granny Smith. I am so excited! Now I am off to the kitchen, see you in a couple of days!

About Those Grapes. . .

I was talking with my neighbor the other day and he said he would be picking his grapes soon. He has a nice arbor and wanted to make grape juice out of them. But. . . .the very next day his wife came over and told me I could have them all. Cool! So the not-so-little one and I picked a box full of them and I spent the day/night cooking them down to make juice. I will probably freeze the juice until I have time to make jelly later.

I was going to throw the scraps out to the chickens, but. . . well you know me, couldn't I use them for something?

Smack on the head! What was I thinking!

Vinegar!

Well, I haven't actually tried this before, but, hey, it couldn't hurt to try. Not much on the internet as far as directions go, but I figure it can't be much different than apple cider vinegar.

So, I filled the jars almost full with grape peels, seeds, leftover pulp.

Added sterilized lukewarm water, just to the top of the peels.

Added a tiny, tiny pinch of bread yeast.

Let it sit uncovered for a day, stirring a couple of times to incorporate air.

Covered it with a piece of old t-shirt tied on with a rubberband.

Put it on the counter where I have a warm, dark place.

Now I wait. I think about 8 weeks should be enough time. I might stir it a couple of times, but other than that, I just hope not to forget out it! Update in 8 weeks.

side note: I guess I could have picked out all the grape seeds and then pressed them to make grape seed oil, but. . . . . I found grape seed oil at Wally's World, 24 oz. for $3.69, so I didn't think that picking out all the seeds would have been a good use of my time, would you?