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Easy Grape Jelly With Two Ingredients

grape jelly on toast and in a jar with red grapes
Image Credit:
Trum Ronnarong/Shutterstock
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener
Yield
Makes about 4 pints.
Category
Pickles and Preserves
Course
Side Dishes
Preparation Method
Cook
Sources
The Old Farmer's Almanac Colonial Cookbook

Have you ever tried your hand at jelly-making? Making grape jelly is easier than you can think.  This recipe is for the old-fashioned grape jelly, which needs only two ingredients. We think wild grapes or underripe Concord grapes make the best jelly, but regular red grapes will do.

Do avoid seedless white/green grapes, which have little flavor and make a bland jelly. Seedless or with seeds doesn’t really matter, as the strainer will remove seeds.

See our “How to Make Jelly” Guide—and more jelly recipes!

Ingredients
Grapes for juice – use 14 oz of grapes for 1 cup of grape juice
3/4 cup sugar for every cup of grape juice
Optional: 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Wash and stem the grapes. Put into a kettle or large stainless-steel pot, mash down, and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until the juice flows freely. Water – ¼ or ½ cup for every 4 cups of grapes – may be added a little at a time to prevent scorching or sticking.
  2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover pot loosely and boil gently. Stir and continue crushing grapes until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes. 
  3. Strain grapes through a dampened jelly bag or fine-meshed strainer or dampened cheesecloth in a sieve collecting the juice in a bowl.  Leave the strained juice overnight in the refrigerator to allow the white crystals that sometimes form to settle. In the morning, pour off the juice carefully, discarding the sediment, if any, at the bottom.
  4. Measure out 4 cups (leave the rest for another batch) and heat to a boil in a stainless-steel saucepan. For 4 cups of juice, you’ll need to add 3 cups of sugar and bring the mixture back to a full rolling boil. Boil quickly, stirring, until the candy thermometer reads 8 degrees above the boiling point of water (about 220°F) or until the jelly sheets off a spoon. 
  5. Note: The jelly needs to be cooked until it’s fairly thick so make sure you cook it long enough or you can add two tablespoons of lemon juice to the grape juice while it’s coming up to a boil and before adding the sugar.
  6. Remove from heat and skim off any foam that forms. To prevent foam from forming, add ½ teaspoon butter or margarine after you add the sugar.  Ladle the hot grape jelly into hot, sterilized jars leaving ¼-inch of headspace.  
  7. Wipe the rims of the jars and add lids that have been washed and dried. Add screw bands and tighten until fingertip-tight.
  8. Place jars on a rack in boiling water bath canner and make sure they are completely covered with water (1-2 inches above the jars). Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Process ½ pints and 8 0z jelly jars for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid waiting 5 minutes, then remove the jars to a towel on the counter, and cool for 12 to 24 hours. Test sealing of jars by pressing lightly in center of lid and store jars that have sealed.  Any jars that don’t seal may be refrigerated and used. Learn more about water bath canning.

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 06/09/2017 - 10:53

Jellies generally use the whole fruit, including the peel and core which contain a lot of pectin, the natural sugar within a fruit to make it jell. With some fruits, the extracted juice will contain all of the necessary ingredients without supplement, like tart apples, blackberries, and grapes. With others, such as apricots, peaches, and raspberries, you will have to add either acid, pectin, or both. Additional pectin must be added to these types of fruits to make them jell properly.

 <span>Colleen B.</span> Wed, 04/16/2014 - 07:19
Just a bit confused about your instructions. You say,"Measure out 4 cups (leave the rest for another batch). Heat the sugar in a double boiler; with 4 cups of juice, you'll need 3 cups of sugar. Bring the juice to a full rolling boil, then add the heated sugar and bring the mixture back to a full rolling boil." You first say; "heat the sugar with 4 cups of juice, and then next sentence you say, "bring juice to rolling boil, then add heated sugar and bring to boil." Do you first heat, boil the juice and then add sugar and then bring to full rolling boil? Thank you
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 04/22/2014 - 10:50
It looks like the semi-colon is throwing you off. You heat sugar in a double boiler, and we are telling you that for 4 cups of juice you will need 3 cups of sugar. So you just have sugar in the double boiler, 3 cups, nothing else. You are warming it up. When the juice is at a full rolling boil, add the warm sugar. Hope that helps!