Grapes

Look at these grapes...this year my mom has a bumper crop of about everything except potatoes (they didn't do well at all this year). We decided it was time to do grapes this week. First we picked some...and when I say some I mean some...I could stand in one place a fill the bucket with grapes without moving along the grape arbor. They are so ripe and ready to be picked that sometimes they'd fall off the vine as I moved my arm near them.
After washing the grapes, we put them in the top of the juicer. In the bottom of the juicer is boiling water and in the middle is where the juice is collected.
After the juice is collected in the middle section of the juicer you are ready to put them in clean, hot jars. You release the clamp on the tube and start filling up jars.
The jars are hot and the juice is hot and once you get the lid on the jar, turn the jar upside down to get the rubber on the lid hot. The bottles will seal themselves and you don't have to put them in a canning bath. It saves on time and space. The juice turns a slight pink as it cools.
After the grapes are deflated and cooked, take them out of the juicer and put them in a slanted pan. This will allow extra juice to pool at the bottom of the pan and you get all of the juice out of the grapes. Homemade grape juice is yummy.