Backyard grape arbors are a common site throughout the Deep South. Our Southern climate doesn’t support the growth and proliferation of but a few varieties of grapes. But the ones that do grow in our climate are as strong as bulls. Once they establish, they’ll probably outlive you.
Muscadines and scuppernongs are our Southern grapes. I love those names. They ring a little differently than more commonly known wine grapes such as merlot, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon. They sound just like my heritage: strong, unpretentious, full of character.
We have a small muscadine arbor in our backyard. After moving to our house, I couldn’t sit still until I got the vine planted. Southern grapes have been grown by various members of my family dating back to as far as we date back.
Muscadines and scuppernongs make fine wine grapes, although, my family were teetotalers so the grapes were strictly grown for eating and for jelly…..as far as we know. The flavor is as unique as the names. It’s somewhat tart and musky. I find the color of the jelly stunning. So much so, I almost want to set my jars of jelly around as decorations.
Muscadine Jelly
My people grew more scuppernongs than muscadines which may have been a matter of choice. The taste of the fruit and hardiness of the vine are very similar. Scuppernongs, which they pronounced “skuppa-nahns” are a golden bronze color and muscadines are purplish black.
Muscadines from our backyard arbor.
Our harvest this year yielded less than normal. Production was about the same as usual but between the strong rain storms that knocked off lots of the fruit and the happy birds and squirrel that filled their bellies, we were left with much less usable fruit. A pair of Brown Thrashers built their nest in the vines. That’s like setting up a nursery in the grocery store.
We gathered 2 gallons of grapes, enough for me to make about 12 half pints of jelly. So, let’s get down to it.
We have to extract the juice first. Wash and pick over the grapes, place in a large stockpot and covered with an inch of water. I used the colander insert in the stockpot to make straining the juice easier. Bring to a medium boil and leave uncovered. As soon as they began to split, I mashed them with my Granny’s potato masher.
Granny’s potato masher
I let them continue boiling for about 25 minutes. Next, the juice needs to be drained AND strained. Take out all the solids and strain it through cheesecloth. It’s very important that you let it strain through cheesecloth by gravity, don’t press on the cloth. You don’t want any solids to be in the juice. That will keep your jelly a little cloudy. It won’t affect the taste, just the appearance. Jelly is meant to be clear, jams and preserves have portions of the fruit in them.
After the juice has been extracted, store in the refrigerator for up to one week if it’s not going to be used immediately. I like to extract the juice one day and make the jelly the next day or two. It breaks up the job. If you store the juice in the refrigerator prior to jelly making, strain it again through cheesecloth to remove crystals that may have formed.
I took classes in food preservation last year. My take away from the class was the fact that it’s a miracle that our Mamas, Grandmamas and Aunt Beas didn’t kill us all dead from botulism poisoning. Our knowledge of food science and food preservation has come a long way. You must be particular in your method and follow the recipe and canning methods diligently.
My go to source for canning information is So Easy to Preserve published by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
Writing this post makes me happy. I love the pictures of muscadines, jelly and Granny’s potato masher. I only wish you could have been in the kitchen with me to smell the jelly as it was cooking.
Y’all come see us!
Muscadine Jelly
source: So Easy to Preserve, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
yield: 3 t0 4 half-pint jars
Follow the instructions in the narrative on juice extraction. It will take between 20 to 30 minutes to bring the juice up to 220 degrees. Be patient. If you skip this step, the jelly may not jell. Only make one batch at the time.
4 cups muscadine juice
1 (1.75 ounce) box powdered pectin (I use Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin)
3 cups sugar
Wash canning jars in soapy water. Rinse and sterilize by boiling for 10 minutes. Keep hot until ready for use. Wash lids and rings and place in a small pot. Bring up to a boil and then let simmer until ready for use.
Mix juice and powdered pectin in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar all at once, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil rapidly until mixture reaches 220 degrees (or 8 degrees above boiling point if you’re in high altitudes) or until the mixture coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.
Pour jelly immediately into hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust lids.
Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
Remove jars and set on a kitchen towel. Let them sit for 12 hours undisturbed.
Muscadine Jelly
Ingredients
- 4 cups muscadine juice
- 1 1.75 ounce box powdered pectin (I use Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin)
- 3 cups sugar
Instructions
- Wash canning jars in soapy water. Rinse and sterilize by boiling for 10 minutes. Keep hot until ready for use. Wash lids and rings and place in a small pot. Bring up to a boil and then let simmer until ready for use.
- Mix juice and powdered pectin in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar all at once, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil rapidly until mixture reaches 220 degrees (or 8 degrees above boiling point if you’re in high altitudes) or until the mixture coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.
- Pour jelly immediately into hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust lids.
- Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
- Remove jars and set on a kitchen towel. Let them sit for 12 hours undisturbed.
Jean says
Jackie…in our part of the south I had never heard of scuppernongs. A south Alabama friend introduced me to them. They are good but I still like the dark muscadines the best. I think the white ones are much sweeter. You have just described what I have tried to for years. Musky…Love it! I made muscadine preserves last year which involved separating the peels from the grape innards. It was a feat but I did it. I always thought it gave the most flavor but I am not sure now after eating them that such a difference exists. Time to make the biscuits?
Jackie Garvin says
Jean,
I’ve seen recipes for Muscadine Pies where you have to separate the hulls from the innards. You are much more industrious then me! I wouldn’t do it. I’ve never seen preserves made with muscadine either. 🙂
Janine says
Ball Blue Book of Preserving has a recipe for muscadine preserves. I have not tried it however. I make my jelly by separating the hulls from the innards then straining it all in the same bowl.
Jackie Garvin says
Janine,
I’ve seen recipes for muscadine preserves. Separating the innards from the hulls sounds like a whole lot of hard work. Jelly suits me just fine! LOL!
Terri BoleaDidnt says
Something happened it tasted sweet and lovely but had a undesirable after taste. Followed recipe to the tee. What happened ?
Jackie Garvin says
Terri,
I can’t imagine what happened. Muscadine grapes have a distinctive flavor. If you’ve never had them before, you might have expected a taste similar to Concord grapes.
Marc says
Scuppernongs are Muscadine’s. There are many varieties of both bronze and red (or black) Muscadine’s. Scuppernongs are a type of bronze muscadine variety.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
When I lived in Tennessee it was all muscadine wine – nobody ever made jelly that I knew. 🙂 I must have run with the wrong crowd.
Jackie Garvin says
Or the right crowd! It just depends on your point of view. 🙂
Donna says
Saw these on Duck Dynasty. Uncle Si ate what he thought was grapes-turned out to be coon poop! Too funny.LOL. MY Friend grows these so we are gonna make us some jelly. Can’t wait ’cause I’ve never had it before.
Jackie Garvin says
I didn’t see that episode but I can’t imagine how in the world Si made that mistake. I don’t think I want to know. 🙂
ROBERT says
You will love it, unless you don’t like strong tasting jelly. This and fig preserves are two of my favorite , unless there’s molasses available. Country folks sure know how to eat good.
Elizabeth Dodson says
The recipes look really nice and inviting! I collect recipes. Keep them coming!!
Patricia says
Jackie, when I was growing up we went into the woods and helped Grandaddy pick or shake the muscadines off the vines growing up the trees. We have what was called purple scuppernongs (scuppanines) growing on an arbor in our yard. I have been able to make jelly for about three years now but I refuse to call it scuppernong. They’re purple so they are MUSCADINES! Just finished making 31 half pints from a five gallon bucket of muscadines! Before today, I had made about 20 pints. Guess what I’m giving as gifts this year!!
Jackie Garvin says
Patricia,
How lucky folks on your Christmas list are! Gosh, your yield is awesome. Do you use pectin in your jelly? I lose so much volume by boiling the juice for so long, I’m tempted to try pectin and only boil for one minute. I’m with you. If they’re purple, they’re muscadines. 🙂
Patricia says
Yes, I have used both Sure-jell and pectin from Ball. I also use pectin when I make apple jelly.
Jackie Garvin says
Do you only boil your muscadine jelly for one minute?
cher says
You’re right. Scuppernongs are bronze. They are a type of muscadine but muscadines are purple to black.
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you, Cher.
Kareef says
Suppernongs are a veriety of muscadine that is bronze-green in color. There are different verietys of Red muscadines also, such as ison and Noble, and a bunch of other verietires that people have bred. Scuppernongs are one of the original verieties, but it is still a veriatey of muscadine. They are all called Muscadines though. I am growing Scupps, Ison, and Nobles in our backyard.
Patricia says
I get juice and pectin to a rolling boil and then add sugar. Bring that to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Much easier than without pectin!
Jackie Garvin says
Patricia,
Does it set up right away? I made apple peel jelly that way once and it took it almost a week to jell. I was ready to open all the jars and recook the jelly.
Patricia says
Jackie, it does gel very quickly! Good luck if you choose to try the pectin!!
Thomas Myers says
i am going to make my first muscadine jelly tommorow. i make lots of mayhaw jelly. (i have a160 tree orchard) i use a custom recipe from Pacific Pectin in calif. my recipe is, 31.5 ozs. strong mayhaw juice, 38ozs cane sugar, & 2 ozs. pectin. (they also have a defoamer, that helps with skimming) I bring the jce. to 140 degrees, add 2 drops of defoamer, and the pectin. I bring this to a rolling boil, and add sugar quickly ,stirring constantly. when this comes to a rolling boil, i boil for exactly one minute. STIR CONSTANTLY…… pour quickly into jars, leaving a quarter inch air space, wipe rims, and tighten very tight. now.. i turn my jars upside down for 5 minutes, instead of a water bath. the theory is the hot jelly softens the gasket, and purify the trapped air. go on line to pacificpectin.com
Jackie Garvin says
Best of luck with your muscadine jelly. I’ve never had mayhaw jelly but I’d love to try some.
Maudine lantz says
I just got my jelly I have order jelly from Amish , ga,miss.tenn. There jelly don’t hold candle to y’all’s jelly it is great it taste like my mama jelly I am from tuscaloosa I miss my mama jelly yours taste like hers thank you so much roll tide Maudine lantz
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you, Maudine! 🙂
John says
Scuppernong’s are a particular type of muscadine. There are at least 50 different types available for purchase at various commercial growers.
Ramona Carter says
I made this recipe two summers ago, and it is AMAZING! I live by So Easy to Preserve as well. It is an awesome book. I was raised in Georgia & we used the County Extension office to answer all sorts of questions! They’re great! I had so many grapes that I was searching for ways to use them up…I tried a cobbler using the skins. Have you ever done that? It was delicious!!! It tasted a lot like a tart cherry cobbler, and with the ice cream – YUMMY!!!
Jackie Garvin says
Ramona,
I’ve never made a pie or a cobbler with the skins. I need to get brave and try that. Maybe next year. The birds and squirrels ate all but a handful of muscadines this year. I didn’t even get to make jelly.
Donna Jones says
This is my first attempt at jelly making. It sounds like a lot of work, but from the pictures and comments, it must be worth it. We like a tart jelly. If I follow this recipe, will it be on the tart side? My boss’s wife made some scuppernong and some apple jelly, and they were sooo sweet, you couldn’t taste the fruit it was made from. I don’t want to waste my muscadines!
Jackie Garvin says
Donna,
I would suggest that you only add a portion of the sugar and taste the juice for sweetness. Then, decide if it suits your taste. It’s not overly sweet to me but my taste might be different from yours.
Donna Jones says
Thank you, Jackie! Sound advice, and exactly what I’ll do.
Jackie Garvin says
Donna,
Please let me know how it turns out for you.
Donna Jones says
Jackie,
Finished the first 4 cup batch at 5:30 last evening. Had trouble sleeping because the directions said leave undisturbed for 12 hours. My jelly turned out EXCELLENT!!! I followed the recipe exactly and it’s not too sweet at all. Lovely deep, clear, garnet red in color. Makes my mouth water just to look at it!
Thank you soooo much for sharing this recipe. I looked at several others before I settled on yours and I’m so glad I did.
P.S. My husband says thank you, too!
Happy Donna
Jackie Garvin says
Donna,
Thank you so much for sharing your success! I’m tickled pink the recipe is to your liking. I’m envious that we don’t have any muscadine jelly this year.
Enjoy yours! I hope your husband has many happy biscuits and jelly morning!
Barbara says
I would like to make this recipe sugar free. Since the fruit is so sweet, do you think it will set? Maybe use some pectin just in case?
Jackie Garvin says
Barbara,
I don’t know if there’s enough pectin to make it set without added sugar. If you want to try it,I’d recommend you use low-sugar pectin as an insurance policy.
LaVern says
When do you take the peel and seeds off or out ?
Jackie Garvin says
You don’t remove the seeds of the skin. After you change on them down, you strain the liquid and that removes all the solid pieces.
Tina says
I take the easy way out and use a steam juice extractor! I learned the hard way many years ago that muscadines can erritate your skin, BIG TIME! I decided to pop each grape so all the juice would escape. Bad idea! By the time I had finished enough for a 5 gal batch of wine my hands and arms were seriously red and itched like the dickens! They stayed that way almost a week. The next year I put them through my kitchenaid with the meat grinder attachment (plates and blade removed). It worked perfectly. Now I just freeze the grapes first whu h causes them to pop.. The steam juice extractor does the best job though. Nice clear juice
Debbie Rogowski says
Do you need to pierce the skins when using the steam juicer?
Mel Fontenot says
I am interested in making Muscadine jelly. Would you have a Recipe to share?
Thanks
Mel
Jackie Garvin says
Mel,
Scroll to the bottom of the page of this blog post and you’ll find my recipe for muscadine jelly.
Joan Marshall says
I followed your recipe for Muscadine jelly. After setting on the table for 24 hours, I checked jars and they had not jelled. Was ready to make another batch so after adding sugar to second batch I opened first batch and poured into juice mixture. Had purchased a thermometer to make sure temperature reached proper temperature. The second batch has set for over 24 hours and I just checked a couple of jars and they have not jelled. What could I be doing wrong?
Jackie Garvin says
Joan,
I can’t imagine what went wrong I’d you’re cooking to the proper temp. I’ve made that recipe numerous times and never had a failure.
Debbie says
In the South we have a curse called high humidity. Frequently jelly won’t jel when the humidity is very high. Learned from my Granny, don’t try making jelly right before a rainstorm unless you just want syrup.
Jackie Garvin says
Great advise!
J. L. says
Scuppernongs and Muscadines are the same grape, just different varieties. The are both Vitis Rotundafolia.