Muscadines and Jalepenos

[santaman2000]

I'll start with the Muscadines. Yesterday Barbara and I were at a regular Thursday breakfast group of members of our Church. One of those members, a good friend, is also a realtor and mentioned a particular house sale he's handling. The house is currently unoccupied as the owner has moved out weeks ago and no offer has been made yet. The house has a healthy muscadine vine and he was concerned that the fruit was going to waste. He gave us the address (to all at the breakfast) for anybody interested in picking them. Obviously Barbara and I were interested and we went shortly before 11:00. By noon we had picked the following

Barbara picked more than I did:

I picked these:

Yesterday she used about 8 cups of them and made 4 & 1/2 pints of muscadine jelly

Tonight she used another 12 cups (and a slightly different recipe) and made another 5 pints (no picture but they look the same as the above)

On to the japlepenos!!!! We planted 3 jalepeno bushes, 2 banana pepper bushes, and 1 cayenne pepper bush tis year and had a very good crop. I've been cooking with them for over a month and made 1 jar each (1/2 pint jars) of infused honey and infused vinegar(sorry, no pix as I gave those to our daughter) Day before yesterday Barbara made the first batch of pepper jelly and came up with 3 pints; 2 of which she gave to our son-in-law. This morning she put up another 3 pints (pix to follow later)


Now back to the muscadines. We still have more than we already used! Tonight we took about a gallon of them over to our daughter and her family and I also stated a 4 gallon batch of muscadine wine (at least that's the initial volume, it'll be less when the pulp is strained) Wish me luck. If everything goes well it should be ready by about Halloween.

By the way, we still have over a gallon of muscadines left.

 

[santaman2000]

Pix of the pepper jelly as promised We still have 4 pints (1 from last night and 3 from tonight) and Nikole & Stephen have 2. Last night's batch was slightly hotter

 

[Robson Valley]

santaman = you gotta translate for here. muscadines are grapes.
I grow Vitis riparia at 53N for fresh, juice and jelly.
The pepper/jalapeno jelly, I need to eat every day, if I can.

I planted Vitis riparia in 2001. Lots of tending and the usual pruning every year since.
I sell new vines, grapes and juice. 2014 was 65lbs fruit per vine. That was gross = I didn't know what to do with the crop!
I'm expecting maybe 40lbs this year and very early, too.

 

[Toddy]

Nice haul There's something incredibly satisfying about full jam jars sitting on the shelves

I've made a lot of jam and jelly but I've never made grape jelly.
Grapes are generally just munched (or frozen, they are superb munchies frozen ) or turned into wine here.
Not a lot of grape growing here anyway. The ones I've had for breakfast came from Spain.

Jalapeños and the like I struggle to eat with any comfort these days, and I was fond. I want one with loads of chilli flavour but very very little heat now.
I have to grow any of the chilli family indoors or in the greenhouse. They don't thrive otherwise.

M

 

[ammo]

Nicely done, Santaman.

 

[forrestdweller]

reading this thread means that i just learned something new (== about north american members of the genus vitis).....

 

[santaman2000]

Nice haul There's something incredibly satisfying about full jam jars sitting on the shelves

I've made a lot of jam and jelly but I've never made grape jelly.
Grapes are generally just munched (or frozen, they are superb munchies frozen ) or turned into wine here.
Not a lot of grape growing here anyway....

European grapes don't grow well here in Florida either. Hence the reason we grow muscadines instead. The nomenclature varies from area to area, and eveen from family to family. Muscadine = Scuppernong = Bullace although that's not technically/botanically correct.

There's a local winery not far from my house that produces some very good muscadine wine. I hope my batch comes out half as good.

And YES! It is indeed satisfying having full jars on the shelf!

 

[santaman2000]

....I've made a lot of jam and jelly but I've never made grape jelly....

Nicely done, Santaman.

Thanks very much. Toddy it seems grape jelly is the most popular here although I actually like apple better. The second batch is going to have to be re-cooked and a little more pectin added as it didn't quite set properly,. but we tried some from the first batch at breakfast this morning and it was great.

 

[santaman2000]

....Jalapeños and the like I struggle to eat with any comfort these days, and I was fond. I want one with loads of chilli flavour but very very little heat now.
I have to grow any of the chilli family indoors or in the greenhouse. They don't thrive otherwise.

M

The recipe she used called for a mix of peppers: jalepeno and bell peppers and sweet banana peppers. You can vary the heat by altering the ratio. Her first batch was slightly hotter while the second batch was a bit milder. Also bear in mind that being a jelly (lots of sugar added) it's a sweet heat. That said, it's not really something you's spread on your toast.

 

[santaman2000]

santaman = you gotta translate for here. muscadines are grapes.
I grow Vitis riparia at 53N for fresh, juice and jelly.......

.........I planted Vitis riparia in 2001. Lots of tending and the usual pruning every year since.......

Yeah they grow them that way here as well. Vines growing on an overhead terrace with annual pruning and care. Back when I was growing up in Mississippi we used to just plant them along fence rows on the farm and ignore them. They usually lasted 30 years or so that way in that climate and soil. However they've turned into a commercial crop there now and they tend them likewise.

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm growing a named variety: Vitis riparia var, 'Valiant.' For table, juice and jelly, excellent.
And durable to survive weeks of -20C in the winter.

The key point is frost hardiness. Vitis vinifera varieties never see their 3rd summer here.
I've bought all kinds of vines over the years, maybe a $10 gamble each. Nothing to show for it.
What industry wants is the frost hardiness of riparia into vinifera like Cabernet Sauvignon.