Homemade grape juice from grapes from your own garden is a delicacy. Unfortunately, straight juice spoils very quickly and must therefore be consumed quickly. However, it can be preserved using simple means and can last for months.
How can I preserve and preserve grape juice?
To preserve grape juice, you can pasteurize it, preserve it or heat it in the open bottle. Pasteurization and preserving require an automatic preserving machine, open heating requires twist-off lid bottles. Always pay attention to cleanliness and use flawless fruit.
Pasteurize grape juice
The pioneer of microbiology, Louis Pasteur, discovered that germs can no longer penetrate into a closed vessel whose contents are heated to over seventy degrees for some time. This process also prevents fermentation, which would turn the grape juice into wine.
Preserve grape juice
You will need the following utensils:
- Bottles with wide mouth, lid and rubber ring or bottles with rubber cap and wire clip
- Automatic preserving machine
- Funnel
Procedure:
- Sterilize bottles in boiling water for ten minutes.
- Fill the obtained juice into the bottles using the funnel.
- Close and place on the grid of the preserving machine. The vessels must not touch each other.
- Pour in enough water to cover at least half of the food being cooked.
- Can at 90 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Remove with a glass lifter and allow to cool.
Alternatively, you can use the oven to boil down the grape juice:
- Place the filled, sealed juice bottles in a drip pan.
- Pour two centimeters of water and put the bottles in the oven.
- Heat up to 180 degrees.
- As soon as small bubbles appear in the vessels, switch them off and leave them in the pipe for another 30 minutes.
- Take out, let cool.
Pasteurize grape juice in the open bottle
You can heat grape juice in the open bottle and thereby preserve it. The prerequisite is the use of bottles with twist-off lids:
- Fill the juice into the bottles; a three centimeter wide rim should remain.
- Place the juice, uncovered, on the rack of the canner.
- Pour water until the vessels are halfway in the water bath.
- Heat to 72 degrees. Check the temperature with a good thermometer and hold for twenty minutes.
- Remove the juice bottles and close them immediately.
- Let it cool down and check whether a vacuum has formed.
Tip
Work very cleanly when making juice so that no germs get into the juice. It is important to only use unblemished fruit for juicing, to remove the stems before juicing and to thoroughly sterilize the bottles and lids.
