Homemade Grape Juice

Fresh grape juice is one of the family favorites to make. It can be a little labor intensive with squishing the grapes. And then I bought a steam juicer. We can process fruit easily now with a steamer.

We have been canning concentrated grape juice with our food processor and it takes longer. With the steamer, I liked it better as it was less work and we got a lot of juice. Clean up was easy too.

What Ingredients Are Needed to Make Homemade Grape Juice?

washed, ripe grapes
sugar

fresh concord grapes in steamer that have been washed

Do You Use Concord Grapes?

You will want to use concord grapes. If you don’t have grape vines, make sure you are getting concord grapes. Concords are sweeter grapes versus the eating grapes.

Do I Need to Remove the Grapes from the Stems?

You do not have to remove the grapes from the stems. Just pick off all the grapes that are green, spoiled and questionable. If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t juice it.

How Long Does it Take to Steam Grapes?

The process to just extract the juice using the steamer is roughly 2 hours. During the process you are feeding in all your grapes and monitoring the water level in the steamer. The more grapes you have, the longer the process will take.

How Do I Use The Steamer?

The steamer has a base filled with water that heats up and creates a steam in the second section that collects the juice. The top and third compartment, has the grapes. As the fruit steam, the will condense and release their juices. You can add more fruit to create more juice (no potato masher needed).

Can I Store The Concord Grape Juice?

Once you’ve extracted the juice, you will want to heat the juice in a large pot and add sugar to sterilized jars (quart size). Fill quart jars with the juice and water bath. The jars will need to be sealed so you can drink later or make into jelly or check out the ideas listed below. Make sure to label before you store jars in the pantry.

How Many Grapes Do I Need to Make Homemade Juice?

It depends on how much fresh juice you want to have. We used grapes from one vine and had enough for 6 quarts. That was about 40+ cups of fresh grapes.

Can I Skip The Sugar?

Added sugar is not required , but you can add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup per quart jar if you want to.

How Much Water is Needed to Dilute Concentrated Grape Juice?

Canned homemade concord grape juice may need some water. If you canned using this recipe, it’s concentrated. Straight grapes (maybe a little sugar). You will need to add a cup or 2 of water at a time and taste it and adjust to your liking. The grapes sweetness and taste will determine how much water you add. Add a little at a time, as it’s easier to add more, than remove.

Things to Make With Concord Grape Juice Recipe:

Fruit Punch
Grape Jelly or Jam
Juice Cocktails
Sorbet
Ice Cubes
Popsicles
Marinades
Sauces and Glazes
Smoothies
Syrup

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Steaming Grapes for Concentrate Grape Juice

Learn how to easily steam grapes for fresh juice by heating them to release their natural sweetness. Perfect for a warm or chilled homemade treat!

Course: Canning

Cuisine: American

Author: Regina Sober

Equipment

Ingredients

washed concord grapes spoiled and green grapes removed
sugar 1/4-1/2 cup per quart jar

Instructions

Steaming the Grape Juice

Pick your grapes and remove any spoiled or green grapes.
Fill your steamer bottom with water to the maximum per directions and put on high heat. Some people have put marbles in this section so that when the marbles move, they know it still has water. I have not tried this.
Wash the grapes and place into the steamer basket of your steamer and fill it.
Add your steamer collection section and make the sure the hose is clamped and up so no juice flows out.
Place the steamer basket on top and add the lid to the steamer. This will take some time before juice is ready to flow, but check in 30 minutes.
While you are waiting, get a card table that can fit to the front and side of the stove and place a large pot to collect the juice of the grapes. The pot should be able to hold 8-10 quarts.
Release the hose into the pot and allow the juice to flow.
If it juice stops flowing, check to see if the grapes have compressed. If they have, you may want to add additional grapes to fill the steamer basket again.
Before you do add more grapes, you may want to carefully check to see if the bottom section needs water and carefully add (after removing the top 2 tiers of the steamer). Use pot holders.
Repeat processing the grapes until the pot is full. If needed get another pot to process.

Canning the Grapes

Place your juice on the stove top and bring to a boil and reached Temp 190℉
While the juice is heating up, prepare your canning jars and gather your lids and seals. Also turn on water bath canner full of water for processing jars. (leaving space for jars, so don't fill to top. The water should be at least 180℉ or close to it.
Add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of sugar in each quart jar.
Ladle the juice into the jar, leaving 1/4 inch headspace on the jars.
Wipe the rim with a wet clean cloth.
Place the lid on the jar and hand tighen the band onto the jar.
Place the jars into the water bath canner once the water and juice are about the same temperature.
Allow the water to go over the jars by at least 1 inch.
Once the jars have reached a boil, process in the water bath for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow the jars to sit in the water for 5 minutes before removing.
Allow the jars to sit untouched for 12-24 hours. (we cover to keep cooler air from cracker jars)
Remove the bands and check to make sure the seals do not come up and the dome is down in the middle.
Label and date the jars. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal and use quickly.
To serve, add a little water to the juice to taste. It's easier to add water than it is to remove.