Yesterday I started to harvest the ripe grapes and was able to get a couple gallons picked. The grapes are in varying stages of ripeness so I made sure to get the higher percentage ripe bunches, though the not quite ripe ones are still fairly sweet. I am planning on using the grapes for jams or jellies and wine.
The grapes started out around the end of June as tiny little fruit in big clusters all over the plant.
By August 15th the grapes had taken shape and were starting to fill out. The bunches gained weight daily and began to weight the Grape Vine down.
My preference for the grapes is to remove the seeds, stems, and skins before storage. I don't want to have the greenage left in so I decided to use our Kitchenaid mixer with the Food Straining attachment. I stripped the grapes from the larger stems and fed it through the strainer. My oldest gave me a hand in stripping the grapes and enjoyed watching the skin and seeds get extruded out the end of the strainer.
In the end I got over half a gallon of grape juice and pulp from the load of grapes. I poured the juice into an empty 1 gallon water jug and plopped it in the freezer. As I harvest and process more rapes I can top of the jug and start more. It is looking like I should be able to get about 5 gallons of grape juice from my 2 vines.
Camera (1): Nikon D7200 w/ AF-S DX 18-140mm/3.5-5.6G ED VR
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| Time | #1.0 - Back Pain |
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Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce
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