Black Grapes Jam

I have been excited many a times when it comes to making or trying new recipes but this "jam making" has been exhilarating :) It was on my to-do list for a while and I didn't spend dreaming(yes i dream about food!Do you?) about it for days but it was running at the back of my mind for a while.

I know how many times I've mentioned about my love for bread and so jam or any other spread is equally important to me.But until recently I never thought or wanted to make jam at home :) My DH mentioned that mil used to make tomato jam to accompany appams when he was young, that was when the idea or need to try jams was born.

 Anyway I didn't do pretty much anything is this whole process except look up for the right recipe which was from HERE. Also a very amazing informative blog there where I always get beautiful results(like this one).THe original recipe has a beautifully done pictorial.I didn't have time to take elaborate pictures but I have a collage for you mentioning the steps.

Here's how we make this really beautiful jam.

You need

Black grapes 1 kg ( i used 1kg +100 gms) 

Sugar 2 n half cups

Other things you will need - a colander to strain the pulp, a wooden spoon, a heavy bottom wide mouth vessel,2 sterilized bottles, a small stainless steel plate.

• Wash and dry the grapes with a dry towel.Pick them from the stalks.
• Peel the grapes, if you press the grapes from the other side(not the stalk side) the pulp will slip away from the peel.Do not THROW away the peels we NEED them.
• Place the small plate in the freezer now.
• In the heavy bottom pan, add the pulp and on a low heat cover and gently bring to a boil.Keep stirring and I occasionally mashed the pulp with the back of the spoon.Once all the grapes has broken down now turn off the heat.
• Strain this mixture through a wide holed colander or mesh.Almost all of the pulp will pass through the rest and the seeds you can discard.
• Add the strained mixture back to the deep vessel, add the skin(told you we need it).
• Bring this pulp mash + peels to a boil let it boil for about 2 minutes and now you can see why we added the peels yes to get that gorgeous purple color.
• Add the sugar and stir it in.Keep the flame on medium high and keep stirring.The jam has to reach a thick dropping consistency.If you lift the spoon initially the liquid drips quickly we need to keep stirring until this thickens and a slightly thickish liquid drops.(Don't worry this took about 5-7 minutes thats all)
• The test to know if our jam is ready - take the plate that we kept in the freezer, add a dollop of the jam and keep this back in the refrigerator, after 2 minutes when you tilt the plate you should see a jelly like texture thats not runny at all.Else just draw a line on the dollop of jam and the line should remain without the liquid covering it up again.
• Once we checked the required consistency, i left the jam for about 10 minutes and then poured it into my sterilized containers.I left it open for about half hour then closed it loosely with the bottle cap.Since I know the jam won't last long enough I didn;t do anything to preserve it for a long time.I left the bottles on my kitchen counter until after dinner and at bedtime i refrigerated it where it is still nice and safe.

The step wise pics in that order of preparation : 

Enjoy yummy luscious grapes jam with your bread for breakfast(or anytime) !

Notes :
- I initially thought of discarding the peels and soon after i tasted the jam with the peels i knew what a big blunder if would have done if i threw it.The peels make the jam so tasty with chewy bits while you eat it.
- I sterilized the bottles in the morning and we started making the jam only at tea time.
- Its been a month almost and one bottle is almost gone now.But its tasting good as new.
- We got 2 500gm jars full of jam(upto the brim)