Cooking the Internet #2 | Grape Jelly

One of obvious perks about having a father-in-law that's a hobby wine-maker is the free wine... Another is the grapes. Grape season is in full force over here and we've been innundated with this year's crop. Faced with more grapes than we could ever possibly eat ourselves, it only seemed fitting that I use them for my first foray into jam-making.

This recipe is also one of those classic what-on-earth-did-we-do-before-the-internet moments. The process of looking at the grapes, thinking about jam, googling a recipe and starting the juice extraction process was about 5 mins... I can hardly even remember what I would have done before – gone to the library? Or more likely the grapes would have gone mouldy before we could eat them all and they would have ended up in the bin. So hooray for the internet!

It's a two-day process and the finally jam is a bit on the sweet side, but slathered on whole wheat bread with cold butter it's delicious. Jam-making was so much easier than I expected that I'll definitely be making it again (and I don't know why I was so nervous about making my own jam...) Paired with homemade almond butter it would also make a cute housewarming gift.

• 1kg red grapes, preferable with seeds (stripped from the stalks) I used mixture of white and red since that's what I had on hand
• 450g 2:1 jam sugar
• juice of 2 lemons

1. Tip the grapes into a large saucepan set over a low heat, then cover and leave to gently cook for 5 mins until the juices start to run. Take a potato masher and mash up the grapes. Leave to cook for about 10 mins more, mashing every now and again until the grapes are falling apart. Place a clean tea towel in a sieve set over a bowl, then pour the grape mixture into this. Let the mixture drip through overnight. 
2. Measure out the juice (you should have about 600ml) and pour it into a pan along with the sugar and lemon juice. Set the pan over a high heat and bring to the boil. Let the mixture bubble for around 7 minutes. Put a small plate in the freezer for 5 mins, then pour a little of the juice onto the cold saucer. After 1 min, run your finger through; if the jam wrinkles slightly, it’s ready. Pour the hot jam into a sterilised jar. Will keep unopened for up to 3 months.

 Adapted slightly from the recipe found here.