Learn how to make homemade concord grape juice from home-grown grapes! Turn your garden concord grapes into juice without high fructose corn syrup Gluten free, paleo
Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Keyword concord grape juice, homemade grape juice, wild grape juice
Remove stems and leaves from grapes and wash thoroughly under running water.
Place 2-3 cups or so of the grapes in a blender with a little bit of water to aid blending (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) and process briefly (20 seconds or so) until all the grapes are just crushed. If you want a stronger juice, you can skip adding water to the blender - it will process fine without it.
Filter the crushed grapes through a jelly bag over a large pot to collect the juice. Discard the seeds and skins. You can squeeze out more juice here by squeezing the jelly bag toward the end to get more juice, but keep in mind that this will easily stain your hands and clothes.
Repeat this process until all of the grapes are cleaned, crushed, and pressed.
Once you have washed, crushed, and pressed the juice from all of the grapes, gently heat the pot of juice.
While the juice is heating up, add your sweetener of choice. I used turbinado sugar and agave in my first batch, and honey in my second batch. You can use 1/4 cup sweetener to 1 quart juice, but go with your tastes: add less or more depending on how you like it. You can experiment with different sweeteners (like coconut sugar or Stevia), and don't be afraid to taste test! Make sure the sweetener is dissolved and mixed thoroughly.
Bring the juice to a simmer (190º F).
Remove the juice from the heat and let it cool completely. Store accordingly. Pour into jars, containers, or bags to freeze, or pour into jars and can. If you are freezing the juice, make sure you leave plenty of room in the top of the jar/container/bag to allow for expansion of the liquids during freezing.