Grape Jam Recipe without pectin.
My homemade grape jam recipe without pectin is a wonderfully dark and seductive concoction. Oozing with flavour, really easy to make (without using pectin) and a great way to use up a glut of grapes.
If you want something sweet, fruity, smooth and delicious to spread across your buns, er, let’s go with toast instead (I don’t know why, but anything spread across my buns just sounds a bit rude) my grape jam recipe is perfect.
The best part is all you need is sugar, grapes, some water and maybe a small squeeze of lemon or in this case a dash of balsamic vinegar.
The background…
A couple of years ago I bought a grapevine and didn’t actually think we’d get any produce. We bought the grapevine to grow round our trellis. I’ve always liked the look of grapevines; if I squint and block out everything else in my garden for a brief moment I can imagine I am in the hills of Italy.
Then I spot another kids toy left to ruin in the garden and remember I’m in the commuter belt of Hertfordshire not Tuscany.
Back to my grapevine – it’s awesome. I don’t do anything with it, don’t have a clue about growing grapes but with divine intervention we get a decent produce of small, red grapes every year. Too much to eat and the kids complain they have pips in. Kids…don’t know they’ve been born (don’t you just love that saying?).
The young want everything that is processed, the old want everything that isn’t.
I hate waste, so decided to make a grape jam, or jelly, or whatever you call it I wanted to make something sweet and sticky and I could spread on toast (not buns).
If you’ve ever wondered the difference between a jam, jelly, compote, conserve, etc. it’s a bloody minefield. So I’m not even going to bother.
Have you ever made your own lemon curd? This is out of this world…
I’ve never been a big jammer; I’m not someone who busts out a hundred jars of jams or chutneys. I’ve nothing against jams, in fact, I am rather partial to a peanut butter and jam sandwich (a consequence of growing up in the States, although to be fair it was peanut butter and jelly from memory..) but I don’t have pectin lying around the house which is a usual suspect in jams.
Got a sweet-tooth?
So it was with delight that my first attempt at making jam without pectin came out so well. I’m probably ‘bigging’ this up more than needs be – making jam is pretty damn simple.
The key is about getting the consistency right so that once your jam (or jelly, or conserve, or whatever the hell it is) cools it is spreadable but not too thick. Or for that matter isn’t too runny.
If you are making a jelly or jam and have all the gadgets then brilliant; if you don’t and are looking at a saucepan and a bunch of grapes then read on!
I’m not sure if this works with other fruit; but once the fruit is cooked and passed through a sieve whatever that measures I use just over a third of that measurement in sugar.
Confused? Here’s an example.
I cooked 750g of grapes down and passed the mixture through a sieve which gave me 400ml of cooked grape mixture. 400 divided by 3 = 133. I rounded up to 150ml and used that amount in sugar.
Did it work? Yes it did! Is there anything remotely scientific about it? No there isn’t, I winged it and this time got lucky. So this is what I stick with.
Here’s how I made my grape jam.. it made about 260ml / 9fl oz (the size of a small jar – in fact the one in the picture!)
Grape Jam Recipe no pectin:
Ingredients:
750g grapes (4.5 cups)
200g sugar (1 cup)
30ml water (2tbsp)
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
pinch salt
Method:
- Add the raw grapes to a saucepan with 30ml water, stick the lid on and simmer on a low heat for five minutes to soften the fruit.
- Crush all the grapes with a potato masher and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute then turn off the heat.
- Pass the fruit mixture through a fine sieve and put back into a clean saucepan.
- Add the sugar, pinch of salt and balsamic vinegar and bring back to the boil.
- Keep it at a boil for about 10 minutes or until the mixture won’t stop bubbling or reaches the consistency of single cream and can coat the back of a spoon.
- Pour into a sterile jar, leave to cool and pop in the fridge – should keep for a month minimum!
Goes great spread on some buns 🙂
Grape Jam Recipe without Pectin
Easy Grape Jam made without using Pectin
Ingredients
- 750g grapes (about 4.5 cups)
- 150g sugar
- 30ml water
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- pinch salt
Directions
- Step 1 Add the raw grapes to a saucepan with 30ml water, stick the lid on and simmer on a low heat for five minutes to soften the fruit.
- Step 2 Crush all the grapes with a potato masher and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute then turn off the heat.
- Step 3 Pass the fruit mixture through a fine sieve and put back into a clean saucepan (pushing down with the back of a spoon to squeeze all the juice out).
- Step 4 Add the sugar, pinch of salt and balsamic vinegar and bring back to the boil.
- Step 5 Keep it at a boil for about 10 minutes or until the mixture won’t stop bubbling when removed from the heat or reaches the consistency of single cream, coating the back of a spoon quite thick.
- Step 6 Pour into a sterile jar, leave to cool and pop in the fridge – should keep for a month minimum!
- Step 7 Bear in mind it will set and thicken alot once it is chilled.
- Step 8 Goes great spread on some buns 🙂
Hey – I just made this – got about 800ml of juice and chucked in 300g of sugar….boiled it for more than 10 minutes but it’s not setting….
How long should it take?
It does vary, if it’s not setting, add a little more sugar and keep it boiling for another 5-10minutes
Hi there,
I tried your recipe today and it worked out great. You might want to mention to keep an eye on the pot cause I got distracted and mine boiled out of the pot. Had a bit of a mess to clean up. Learned my lesson and will watch the pot next time.
Jan
Oops! I’ll make sure I mention that!
I can handle converting simple measurements through the power of basic match and google.
Thanks for the recipe
Can you tell me how much grape juice in cups? How many cups of juice do I need?
Apologies for the delay! So.. for the amount of grapes I got about 400ml of juice; this equates to just under two cups. However, and this bit is important; it doesn’t matter. The recipe works to ratios; so whatever amount of grape juice you get after cooking them a little; just measure this (in ml, or simply in your coffee cup) and add about a third of that volume in sugar. This way you can use whatever amount of grapes you can get your hands on without worrying about getting exact measurements. Does that makes sense? If not, please do send me another message!
In addition I complain because I’d like to use this recipe, it’s simple, but I’m not up on the conversions from metric to standard measuring. thank you
Apologies for not offering different measurement versions. I’ve offered both grams and now cups/tablespoons as I find these are the easiest worldwide to follow. I hope this helps and makes my jam recipe without pectin easier for you to follow. Good luck!
if your going to post a recipe for people to follow consider the fact that not all are acquainted with the metric system. You’ve put forth a combination of metric and standard measurements. Just a thought
Well guess what, USA is the only ones in the world that uses the imperial system and who has time to be a calculator for everyone? Get out google and figure it out like the rest of us!
I second of the two recipes yesterday, painstakingly removing all the stalks and following the stages to the letter. Not sure if this would work though as it seemed very different to previous jam recipes that I have successfully made. I was right to be suspicious as after chilling the 5 jars I made in the fridge overnight, I went to them and found each jar to be like water.
Very disappointed…
Perhaps you could amend the recipe? There was no mention of boiling up the jam until it reaches setting point?
Thanks
Hi Angie, I’m really sorry to hear you didn’t have any luck – was this definitely my recipe? Just I don’t mention removing the stalks as you’ve stated in your comment and I do say to boil it for about 10 minutes which everyone else seems to have had good results with (including me each year). If it is my recipe and after re-reading it you didn’t miss anything out I’ll definitely re-test it to make sure. But I’ve been running with this method for a few years and never had a problem! Always happy to redo it though if it didn’t work for you!
This was just what I was looking for. The only thing I did different is to put my ‘mash’ into a bowl and add a small amount of water the reseive it to get more of the pulp out. I did this three times. I figured I could just reduce it a little longer. Worked out great!
How much does this recipe yield? How many 1/2 pints, or is this a single batch?
Sorry for the delay in replying – this makes about 1 batch (about 1/2 pint). Hope that helps and look forward to hearing how it turns out!
Hi there. Just a quick question. I haven’t made this recipe b4 and am hoping that it will still turn out as I didn’t put in the vinigar….. an oops.
It’s very thin yet. Thinking it will thicken up as it sets.
It smells delish tho.
Hi Renay, it will thicken as it sets, once it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and has bubbled it should be fine. Looking forward to hearing how it turns out!
hello Theo, the grape jam is superb, but added lemon geranium leaves and a little lemon juice ,then put everything in the blender… I decided to cheat be lazy , but thanks for this amazing recipe, Going to serve this on top of Greek yoghurt with crushed pistachio nuts to our client, have grapes galore here…..be even nice with cold meats…Its hot and sunny today here on Poros Island. . We have a couple of tavernas on the island .younger son and I are the cooks , whilst husband and older son manage.. They also go fishing, so alway have plenty of fresh fish , Calamari and octopus on the table…..look up Apagio taverna , Poros island….. have a great day Elizabeth .. on trip adviser , guide du rotard. Thanks again.
Sounds amazing Elizabeth and so happy you enjoyed the recipe! The addition of Greek yogurt sounds divine (and think I might just have that for my lunch!)
Good morning Theo I’m in the process of following your recipe does it make a difference that I’m using seedless green grapes, as I’ve just been given 9 kilos from a friends vine yard here on Poros island in Greece…..the leaves I’ve used to make dolmades…well anyhow I’m following your recipe and hoping for the best…shall keep you posted. Elizabeth Papadopoulou-Stride.
What is the answer to the last question? I have a crop of green grapes that I would like to try, and hope that it is as successful as the black grape recipe i used last week
Hi CLive,
I’ve just answered the below comment with the following – let me know if you need any other information!
“Apologies for the delay! So.. for the amount of grapes I got about 400ml of juice; this equates to just under two cups. However, and this bit is important; it doesn’t matter. The recipe works to ratios; so whatever amount of grape juice you get after cooking them a little; just measure this (in ml, or simply in your coffee cup) and add about a third of that volume in sugar. This way you can use whatever amount of grapes you can get your hands on without worrying about getting exact measurements. Does that makes sense? If not, please do send me another message!”