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Railroad Grade Wild Grape Jelly

Started by Jeff, September 27, 2014, 01:15:27 PM

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Jeff

Two weeks ago my friend and neighbor Joe called up and asked ifi wanted to go Puddin stone hunting. I said sure! I had a person in mind that I wanted to find some for, so off we sent. I got some nice pudding stones that day, but what was better yet, was that I discovered a large area of wild grapes on an old Railroad Grade road. They are pretty hard to get, as they grow up in the trees, and there is no getting to the trees here, as the old grade road has no shoulders and it is about a 50-100 foot near vertical drop one step off the road. 

So, Tammy and I went back night before last and got what we could where we could until we had enough to make a couple batches of Jelly. We could get some right along the edge, but you had to really watch it, because of the treacherous edges. Other places we could drive the truck up under some lower hanging branches and get some that way.  I cleaned the grapes that night while watching the tigers (took 3 hours), then yesterday morning before PT I juiced them, and today, while Tammy in on a bus trip, I made a batch.  IT WAS WORTH IT!   I may have to have biscuits for supper tonight.  8)


  

  

  

  

  

  

 
Just call me the midget doctor.
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sandhills

 food6 Looks Great!  My inlaws have some vines around their yard, can't beat the jelly, juice, and wine from them!

21incher

Looks great.  digin1 Are they like a wild concord? I just finished up making a couple of batches of elderberry jelly.
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warren46

I confess I was intrigued by the title of this post.  I opened the post to find out if railroad grade gapes had fewer defects than say industrial grade grapes. ???  The English language can be hard to understand.
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Seaman

OK Jeff, what's a Puddin Stone?
Frank

Good job on the jelly BTY
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Jeff

@Seaman

This topic will tell you about pudding stones, which I like to hunt and sometimes capture. :)

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,31869.0.html
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

luvmexfood

When I saw the title I thought some maybe high calorie grape jelly. Can still remember the "camp cars" that came around with the railroad when they were rebuilding a significant amout of track. Workers lived in the cars and they had a cook car.

Dad worked on the railroad all his life. Only job he ever had but he worked in the depots. I can remember him telling stories about the food in the camp cars. Good and plenty of it. Sort of like the stories we have read about the old time logging camps. Piles of steak, and fixings. He must have snuck over and mooched a meal or two.

Don't know if they still use them but did see several on a siding couple of years ago.
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WDH

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Jeff

The biscuits came in a can, so as good as they could be for what they were. The Jelly was very good. :)  If I can round up some jars, I'll make another batch before I leave for Paul Bunyan next week.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Brad_S.

How does the taste of a wild grape differ from a cultivated variety? "Grapier" taste?
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

Jeff

I'd say that "Grapier" is a fair word. :)    Intense grape. If you like grape, you'd love this.  I have to admit though, I have an aversion to grape anything and here is why.

Many years ago, when I was working at the mill, the boss use to buy Faygo soda for us to drink. No one would drink the water there for several reasons.  Faygo was good, cheap and came in a multitude of flavors.  Well, the boss, such as he was, came across a deal. 10 cents on the dollar for 100 cases of grape, faygo soda. Apparently it was not a popular flavor. Since that summer, it has taken me probably 20 years to bring myself to even make this grape jelly.  It is wonderful tasting stuff, but it brings back to many grape memories for me to eat very much of it. I'll be distributing it to my friends as I do with most of the Jellies I make. :)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Corley5

  This is the 2nd year I've sold Valiant grapes to American Spoon Foods in Petoskey for grape jelly.  They prefer them because they are very similar in taste to our local wild grapes.  This year I let them hang a week longer than I should have and the brix and acid levels balanced which for wine is a good thing but they prefer a higher acid content for their jelly.  The four inches of rain we got that week didn't help either.  We'll pick sooner next year.
  Looks good Jeff  8) 8) 8)  I'm not a big fan of grape flavors either  :-\ 
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Jeff

I just finished up another batch and held back over a third of the sugar. Wowsie! Very intense grape and still more than sweet enough.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

thurlow

Niece called a couple of weeks ago to see how the kudzu blossoms were looking;  she wanted to make some kudzu blossom jelly.  I helped her pick enough for one batch and she brought me a small jar of it.  It's got a somewhat mild flavor kinda like muscadine jelly.  We've got a 3-4 acre ravine/valley which the stuff has tooken over;  swmbo'd HATES it, but to me it's just a nuisance.


  

 
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Dave Shepard

Railroad grade, industrial grade, economy grade, I like all kinds of jelly.  :)
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WDH

You would probably even eat #2 common too  ;D.
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dail_h

   Jrff, I'm pretty sure it's some kinda sin to use canned bisquits for that kind of jelly. lol kudzu is one of my favorite plants,,much maigned,, n misunderstood ;D
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Magicman

Quote from: dail_h on October 05, 2014, 05:23:38 PMkudzu is one of my favorite plants,,much maigned,, n misunderstood ;D
It ain't misunderstood here.   :-\

Congrats on the grape find and jelly making/eating Jeff.   food6
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tractormanNwv

Been 30+ years since I had wild grape jelly. they use to grow up on the bank in the trees along the pipeline out toward the gristmill barn, think I'll go make some biscuits now.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: WDH on September 30, 2014, 09:37:47 PM
You would probably even eat #2 common too  ;D.

My favorite snack!  :D
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