Canning Grapes

So do any of you guys like cherry pie? Or cherry cobbler? Or cherry burros? Or anything that needs a cherry filling? I have a secret here that will definitely WOW you! And the secret ingredient is....

GRAPES

Yes, that is right. And now I will tell you how it works! (Well, I don't really know, but it is super good, and a whole lot cheaper than buying cherry pie filling!)

First, you buy your grapes, but you only buy them when they are on sale, because otherwise, it is not a good deal for you. I bought a ton of grapes for only 79 cents a pound this last week at Safeway, and this week, they are $1.99 a pound, so I saved a bunch of money! After you buy your grapes, you devine them and wash them good in a colander.

After they are rinsed, you put them in your jars. You want to do them in quart size jars because for the most part, you will be making pie for a bunch of people, and you want to make sure you have enough filling for everyone there!

We use green grapes because they are usually seedless and not all of the purple ones are. But don't worry, I will tell you how to make them not green anymore!

While you are stuffing the jars, you want to get some sugar water warm on the stove. This is your syrup that you put in with your grapes. You want to do 9 cups of water to every 4 cups of sugar. Get the sugar dissolved and almost to a boil and then pour it into your jars with your grapes.

After you get the syrup into the jars, you will add 1 teaspoon of red food coloring.

(My picture is really stinky, but you get the idea.)

You can add the food coloring before or after you put the water in. We actually put it in before and as you add the water, you can see if start turning red.

When we were adding the food coloring to our grapes, Chris said, "That's all you guys do to make it red? That is so dissappointing! I shouldn't learn how these things are done because I think they are so much more extravant than they realy are!" Ah silly boy, he has much to learn about me still!

You want to boil your seals and use this nifty little magnet to get them out and put them on the jars so you don't burn yourself!

Then you put the jars into your STEAMER, I didn't get a picture of the steamer but you don't want to use your pressure cooker. (If you look when I did apricot jam, there is a picture of the steamer there if you have a question about what a steamer looks like) And you steam the jars for 20 minutes.

And then, you have some instant cherry pie filling!

Ok, now I will tell you how to make the pie filling. You open a can of your grapes, a jar of crushed pineapple from the store, and a cherry package of cool aid, heat it up on the stove and add some cornstarch to thicken it a little bit. I make cobbler in a dutch oven usually, so after it is warm, I put it in the dutch oven with a store bought cake mix (white or yellow) and put a couple slices of butter on top. Then you cook it until the cake mix is slightly brown on top. You can also cook it in the stove, probably at 350 degrees until it is done. I have never made it in a stove, so I'm not sure!! You know you are amazed by this recipe! Try it, your family will love it, and after they have eaten it, ask them if they knew what they were eating! They willl get a kick out of it also!