Creativity in the kitchen

We have been really excited with our grapes this year. Planted initially to hide an unattractive archway which leads into our back garden. It had been my intention to plant a clematis but oh no the other decision maker in this partnership was determined on grapes. I had been adamant that grapes would not grow this far north and yes, the photographic evidence is there to prove me wrong.

Now we did not have heaps but enough for the littler boy to work with his Dad to harvest and collect the two different varieties for a few minutes on Sunday afternoon. The wee soul actually tripped up at one point and managed to fall on the ground stoically saving the grapes! Not one did he drop.

A beautiful collection! And we did what we do best, had a quick look thru recipes online and pulled up one for grape jelly. I have to be honest tho I tend just to use recipes as guides. I kind of read them and think that maybe doing it this way or that way instead might be better. A touch of arrogance perhaps or just some creativity? It is not like I have a proven track record on jam/jelly. Four jars in the fridge does not make me an expert. Well, clearly not!!

We gently boil up the fruit and Mike patiently pushes it all through the sieve to get rid of pips and skin. The pectin is in the pips, he had read, and he is a much more careful reader than me. He kind of gets more than just the gist of it!! So we throw the fruit back in the pot with the sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Well I was under the impression that a rolling boil was a gentle boil. I mean do you not think that rolling boil sounds like a gentle boil? Well it ain't! We had a jam jar full of juice you could have sooked up with a straw. So back into the pot and I set it to a rolling boil, which I had since read, was a belter of a boil. So boil it did and doing the spoon test after just a few minutes I had just a wee concern, a slight niggle, about how quick it had set, and set firm, in fact really firm. I did initially pour it into a jar but very quickly thought the better of it.

You see our precious grape harvest had been turned into a kind of grape toffee! Well, something more like a giant boiled sweetie. It has not set quite enough to break it into pieces. It has set just a little too much to be able to cut it.

It is now rolled up in a big wrap in our fridge. There is no way we are going to waste it but we have no idea what exactly we are going to do with it! Anyone out there got any suggestions?