Muscadines are a treat that we look forward to having every August. They grow very well in the southern states without much maintenance. You'll even find them growing wild in the woods around here.
Our muscadine vine was planted long before we moved to our homestead. We're very thankful that Brooklyn's grandfather liked them as much as we do. As a result, we were fortunate to inherit a 100' long muscadine vine when we moved here.
These vines are well-established and only require pruning at the end of the year once the leaves have fallen. We never water or fertilize them and they always produce well. We have 5-6 different varieties along that 100' stretch of vines. We don't know the names of any of the varieties, but they vary in size and color.
In past years we've only enjoyed the muscadines raw and shared many of them with friends and family. However, this year we decided to make jelly with them. And we're so glad we did!
The recipe below is very simple and we like it because it doesn't require any fancy equipment. This recipe should make approximately 4-5 pint jars of jelly. Our recipe calls for purple muscadines, but you could certainly use the bronze ones as well. We like the purple ones because the color of the jelly is absolutely amazing!
INGREDIENTS:
- 5 lbs Purple Muscadines
- 8 Tablespoons Pectin
- 6 Cups Sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1) Pour the 5 lbs of whole muscadines in a large pot with a small amount of water at the bottom to keep them from burning initially.
2) Cook on medium-high heat for 15 minutes. Once the skins start to crack during this 15 minute time period, use a potato masher to smash the muscadines and render the juice.
3) Once the muscadines have been adequately smashed, pour through a strainer to collect the juice.
4) Add 5 cups of the juice to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
5) Reduce to simmer and add 8 Tablespoons of Pectin. Stir while adding the pectin and continue stirring as you bring the mixture back to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
6) Once at a rolling boil for 1 minute, add 6 Cups of Sugar. Stir while adding the sugar to remove any clumps. Keep stirring until the mixture returns to a rolling boil.
7) To ensure that the jelly will be gelatinized, dip a small spoonful into a bowl and put it in the fridge. Within a couple minutes, you should be able to tell if the mixture will indeed gel once cooled.
8) Remove the pot from the stovetop and ladle into jars. Wipe jar rims clean then add lids and bands. Water bath for 15 minutes, then remove jars from the water bath to cool.
9) Make more than you think you'll need. This stuff is amazing!
