Earlier in the year, when the fruit trees were dormant, I hired a fruit tree expert to come and discuss my mini orchard with me, as well as prune my trees. I was given some bad news. Essentially I had annihilated my apple tree as well as my grapevine. I was told neither would produce very well this year. The grapes would recover next year, and the apples, well, let’s not discuss that now.
She was right about the apples. But happily, the grapes have produced wildly. One side is bare of fruit, so I certainly would have had a better yield had I not hacked the poor thing up, but lucky for me the vine was more forgiving of me than perhaps it should have been.
My mother-in-law had canned grape juice the year before, with whole grapes. I loved the look of the jars. And because grapes come to bear during a busy season, it seemed an easier task to put up a bunch of grape juice for the kids. The hardest thing about this recipe is pulling the grapes from the vine.
I tried this recipe out with two different types of grapes: perlettes (a green, European table grape) and champagne grapes (teeny tiny red grapes). The recipe will work better with the smaller, juicier varieties. My assumption is that if you were going to use a concord grape, you should go the traditional route of squashing and juicing the fruit.
This grape juice method essentially uses a raw pack process. You can do the same recipe to can a whole jar of grapes, in which case you would simply fill the jar with grapes, and then add the syrup. You can adjust the syrup to your liking. I use a very light amount of syrup for this recipe to get as close to the natural sugar levels in most fruits. It also adds the fewest calories.
The final product is a very fresh tasting grape juice, which tastes more like grape and less like sugar. Enjoy!
Canned Grape Juice
makes three quart jars
3 cups whole grapes, off the vine
1 cup sugar
10 cups water
Directions:
- Sterilize your jars and lids.
- Stem, wash, and drain grapes.
- Prepare a syrup by combining the sugar and water and bringing it to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Add 1 cup of grapes to each quart jar. Ladle hot syrup into jars, being sure to release the air bubbles, until there’s 1 inch headspace.
- Wipe the rims and seal the jar.
- Process in a boiling water bath for twenty minutes (start counting once the water has reached a boil), more depending on altitude.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the recipe. My Mother taught me how to make juice this way, but I had forgotten over the years. thanks for the refreshment course. Happy juiceing!!!
Glad you found it helpful LaWanna! And that it brought back the nice memories!
Just found out my grandma made juice this way.. thanks for the recipe..
You’re welcome. I love when people have these discoveries from the past!
How long do they need to sit on the shelf before they have good flavor? Do you just drain the juice and drink? Or is it a concentrate you add water to? My aunt use to make a recipe that you add water. Thats why I ask. Thanks.
Hi Michelle – great questions. Easy answers:
1) You can essentially drink the juice as soon as you want to, but for the best flavor, let it sit on the shelf for at least a week.
2) This is not a concentrate. No need to mix it with water. I do have a lemonade concentrate on my site, if you search for that.
This is a very light grape juice. It’s delicious and refreshing. One complaint is that it goes very fast! =)
Can i use pint size jars and merely cut your recipe in half? This recipe sounds so easy…almost too easy to be true! Thanks!
Yes – you can. But I wouldn’t only because this is NOT a concentrate – so if you can it as pint jars, you’ve basically got yourself one cup of grape juice! It is SUPER simple. The juice is great. Very light and refreshing. We ended up canning about a dozen quarts and I am afraid half are already gone! (The other half would be, as well, if I didn’t stop heeding the kids’ requests!).
Thanks for this post, I have just got a very large quantity of grapes from my mom who got them from the neighbor lady. Not sure what type of grape they are, I’ve made loads of jelly but grape juice really seems like my next recipe to try since my kids love it. The only question I have is when you put the grapes in, do you have to smash them any or take the seeds out?
HI Michelle, Sorry to be tardy on replying. You don’t need to smash the grapes, but I’ve never made this recipe with seeded grapes. Basically you can strain the grapes out when you drink it, if you want to. Or, they will be soft and squishy (so I like to eat them, it’s like a surprise in your glass!), And you culd either spit the seeds out or swallow them. Whatever. It’s grape juice the easy way – so do it as easily as possible!!
Thanks for the recipe! I have two vines, one a sweet green eating grape with no seeds, and the other a redish purple grape with very large bitter seeds in them. I am going to try this recipe with the green grapes, because there is a lot of them and I don’t want them to go to waste!!!
You’re welcome. Enjoy! My kids love this grape juice!
Just wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe and it turned out wonderful!!!! I have 10 quarts so far and plan to do at least 20 more this weekend……I have also passed this recipe on to a friend with grandchildren who wanted an alternative to store bought juice. Even one of my picky teenage kids that I work with loved this juice! Thank you again for such a wonderful recipe!
Love the ease of this recipe. However, I am short on jars and still a lot of canning to do. Can I use more grapes per jar, for a richer juice? Thanks!
Yep – you can use more grapes if you would like. I would definitely hope you have seedless, if that is the case. And remember that the grape juice really comes from the liquid so the more mass taken up by grapes, the less grape juice you will actually get, unless you pour grapes and juice into each glass. =)
My mom made grape juice this way, but instead of syrup she poured white sugar on the grapes after they were in the jars and then poured boiling water on them leaving an inch of head room at the top. We like a less sweet juice, and I make mine with just grapes fresh from our vines covered with boiling water in hot jars just out of a boiling water bath. Sometimes the lids pop before I can even get them back into the hot water bath. But I put them in anyway. Haven’t been leaving them in for the full twenty minutes tho…more like five. Think it will be safe to partake?
Hi Sunny – your mom was basically using the same recipe as I did – only I mixed the boiling water + sugar first to make the syrup. Your mom poured the sugar into the jar and then added the boiling water. Either way works fine, tho I prefer to make the simple syrup first because it fully dissolves the sugar. Re: 5 vs 20 mins. 5 mins is totally fine for pints or quarts per the USDA’s website. So you’re fine. I totally overshot the 20 mins.
If the grapes are on the bottom of the jar after canning, does it mean the jar did not seal? There isn’t a button on the jar lid, so I assume it sealed, but several jars have the grapes on the bottom of the jar.
It’s fine if the grapes settle to the bottom. There’s no correlation between the jar not being sealed. If you used a regular 2 part lid and ring, and the lid is taut, it’s sealed. Try to pick it up from the lid, if you’re worried about it.
I live in Hawaii. I tried growing grapes here but I didn’t do well. Even though store bought grapes wouldn’t taste as good as right off the vine could I use store bought grapes? Thanks for sharing this recipe with us!
You can definitely use store bought grapes. Best to make sure they are seedless – not necessary, but obviously more appealing!
My mom always made grape juice this way when I was a kid. It can not compare to anythin you buy in the store. Some one gave me some grapes and I wanted to make some for my kids to enjoy. My mom has dementia and could not remember how to make it and never really wrote things down. Thank you so much for sharing! Hoping to get this made tomorrow after work.
Oh that made me so happy to hear. I hope you were able to make it. We just canned all of our grapes a few weeks ago!
Hi. I have ordered both concord and niagra grapes. I noticed from your text that concord grapes may not work well this way, but do you know if niagra grapes would? Thanks so much. This would be an awesome time saver!!!
I think Niagra would work just fine. Another gal used this exact combination and reported it worked great!
Hi – Have you used the plastic canning jar lids? I was going to try them with my next batch of grape juice but was not sure if A) I should try to let them seal on their own with the boiling syrup/water or B) if they would be safe in a water bath. Any suggestions?
I think the ones you are referring to are the reusable tattler lids? If so, yes, they’re totally safe to use in the canner bath. If you’re talking about the plastic lids from Ball, those are meant to be used after you’ve opened the jar and need to store it in the fridge.
Thanks my family loves the juice! Can you do this raw pack juice with any other fruit to make other juices?
Yes, pretty much, as long as it is a high acid fruit, you can do it with other fruits!
Can you use grapes with seeds?
What do you do with the grapes once you open the jar? Toss them or eat them?
you know those little fruit cups or cans of mixed fruit you had as a kid? The grapes were like this squishy little ball of yumminess inside the can? Basically, that’s what I do with them! I leave them in the jar as I pour out the juice, and when the juice is done, the kids and I eat the grapes! You can toss them, compost them, feed them to the chickens or the dog. Doesn’t matter. But I think they’re yummy to eat. You can use seeds, this is just a preference thing. There’s no issue with it. If seeds escape the grape, just strain the juice when you pour it.
Can you cut the grapes in half and get a more concentrated juice? I have muscadines and they have seeds…is this a problem? Also, I’ve read in some similar recipes to let it sit for 2 months. Thoughts? Thanks!
you can cut them in half and you can use grapes with seeds. These are just cosmetic changes. The juice won’t look as “pretty” in the jars. But you can strain it when you use it. And yes, the longer you let it sit, the more developed the flavor.
Hi. Just stopping by as I try to find the recipe I used last year to can grape juice. Glad star for not remembering to write it down!!! Anyway, your recipe does sound very much like the recipe I used. I use Concord and Niagara grapes with the seeds. I canned about 60 quarts of juice, and poured the jars throu a strainer into a carafe. It was no big deal really. And then I fed the pulp to the chickens, who are just wild for fruit of any sort.
Doing 25 pounds of Niagaras today for white grape juice, and (gulp) 80 lbs of Concords Friday… jam, pie filling, and more juice.
Sorry for the tardy reply but that does sound amazing! You definitely win the prize for the grape juice. I love concords. Thinking of planing one this winter! =)
This recipe is fantastic, I had no idea you could make grape juice like this! I made seven quarts and once I tasted it, found it a bit sweet for my tastes (my kids loved it though), would I be able to reduce the sugar at all? My guess is that my grapes were very sweet, which added to the taste. Thanks for the recipe though, you’ve opened my eyes!
So glad you loved this recipe! It’s easy peezy, especially for people who have prolific grapevines. Mine always seem to come to bear all at once and this recipe is my saving grace! Yes, you can lower the sugar to your liking. Doesn’t affect the safety of the end product.
I just stumbled across your page and I am thrilled to have found it. I was thinking, what if I added a few raspberries to this grape juice. Raspberry grape juice sounds yummy and would still be pretty. Can you think of a reason why I shouldn’t try this? I admit, if it wasn’t already obvious, that I am new to canning and I’m always worried that I’ll make some terrible error and poison someone.
It would be totally fine. Raspberries are high acid. Doesn’t change anything from a safety perspective.
Save a LOT of jars and space by doing this but doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the grapes and sugar. (Or less sugar as you prefer.) This makes a concentrate. Just made 47 jars yesterday with about 60 lbs grapes. About half were with 2 cups grapes each, and half 4 cups grapes. 1 cup each jar would have taken way more jars and storage space.
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