Jelly Catch-up

I had much good fortune - my friend Eric was visiting  for the first time in years and we went up for a wine country tour in Dry Creek.  We got to Preston Vineyards just at closing but got in a tasting anyway - I managed to catch the young lady clearing away the self-serve produce from the stand and bought up all the muscat grapes that were for sale at $1 per pound.  I have to confess - it has been an old dream of mine to make grape jelly. 

As soon as my dear friend departed, I pulled out the grapes, the ground cherries I had been cooking down and some plum juice I had frozen in July and made three batches of jelly.  Since the grapes & ground cherries are so sweet, I used as little sugar as I could get away with.

The Muscat Grape Jelly came out better than I can possibly express and only a few people get to try it because I only ended up with about 12 half pints.  I ate one with a spoon after chilling it in the fridge - it was way better than grape jell-o.

The Ground Cherry Jelly was truly a unique, delicate and amazing experience.  It still is.  Again - it was a small batch but I plan to make more next year.  The plum jelly came out rich and delicious as always - low sugar means it was a bit more tart but I'd happily sub that for cranberry jelly at any holiday dinner!

• Muscat Grape Jelly
• Ground Cherry Jelly
• Plum Jelly (with frozen plum juice)