Hot Grape Mess

So just as fall is steeping itself into winter, and I was thinking I was getting off scott free when it comes to canning and jamming and wine-ing, my very lovely neighbors wanted to know if I wanted some grapes. My lazy side really wanted to say “no, thank you.” But then my neighbor busts out this little ditty:
  “[The Grapes are] all yours if you want them for wine or some other yummy homesteadish type project.”
  My neighbor is lovely, and she HAD to throw down the “homesteadish” challenge. Has she been reading my blog? Does she know Laura Ingalls Wilder is my home girl? I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to homestead it up. So later that day, this was on my back door step:

 

Now I had to do something with my hot grape mess. So I pulled out my big guns:

 

My good ol’ canner.

 

And my good ol’ canning supplies. And then I went to get my pectin, and was loathe to discover I only had enough Ball fruit Pectin to make one batch of grape jelly. I had another option, but I shuddered as I reached for …

 

… the Sure Jell, which is neither very sure, nor does it usually jell. This stuff is awful, and if you are reading this blog for canning advice (which you shouldn’t be) then I will advise you to not waste your money on this stuff. If you must waste your money on something that promises a sure jell, do NOT buy Sure Jell, just send me the money you want to waste, and I will send you a package of dirt instead. The Sure Jell even comes with instructions on what to do if it doesn’t jell!!! No other pectin products I’ve invested in even remotely hint at the possibility that their product won’t work.

Why do I have this in my cupboard, you ask. That was a story that goes a little something like this:

Joseph: I bought groceries, here’s the pectin you asked for.
Frank: I didn’t ask for this, this stuff is horrible!
Joseph: It’s pectin.
Frank: I wrote BALL FRUIT PECTIN on the list.
Joseph: This was Cheaper.
Frank: cuss cuss cuss.

 

 

So I made two batches of Jelly. The first batch was strictly grape juice with the rest of my Ball Fruit Pectin. The second batch was Sure Jell with mostly grape juice with a little blueberry juice thrown into the mix to stretch the leftover grape juice.

 

Needless to say, the first batch set up, and the second one did NOT. I will now have to follow Sure Jell’s handy instructions for what to do when their product fails. This requires another box of their product, but I’m not buying any more of it because my Joseph made sure to really stock the cupboards with the Sure Jell. So I have plenty.
 

 

In other news, I was also jealous of Joseph who got to dress up for work on Halloween, so I dressed myself up for two hours so I didn’t feel left out. Joseph was a Cowboy Vampire, and I did a quick March Hare costume with things I had on hand here at the house.

 

Joseph took me to Target like this and bought me a treat. I was very gratified and not at all pathetic.