What can you make from grapes? 11 ideas

From August you can harvest the wonderfully fresh fruits in the garden. Sometimes you don't even know what to do with this amount of grapes. We show you 11 ideas what you can conjure up with them.

Grape Harvest

Did you cut back vines in the fall or spring, the plants sprout from the end of April to the beginning of May. From July you can already marvel at the first small berries. Depending on the variety, these can be harvested from August to October. From green to black, everything is represented and marked with an individual taste.

Important preparations

For a smooth start, it is important to take care of a few things in advance. These include, among others:

• Prepare and sterilize glasses, lids and tools (preferably in the oven, in the dishwasher or with boiling water)
• Always wash the grapes thoroughly and remove the stems
• pit grapes if necessary
• discard mushy or moldy specimens

Tip: You do not necessarily have to dispose of the kernels, they are suitable as a nutty note for jam or for grow new vines.

Boil the grapes

A quick way to preserve grapes is to boil them down. There are various recipes how you can implement and refine this.

• Wash and remove the seedless grapes from the stems
• Place grapes in mason jar
• Boil the sugar solution and let it cool down
• Cover the grapes with the sugar solution
• Dry and seal the edge

Insert grapes

Another popular way to preserve grapes for a longer period of time is pickling the grapes in vinegar.

• Place grapes in a glass with tarragon
• Boil the vinegar and honey
• Add salt
• Pour the mixture into the jar and seal immediately

Tip: Grapes can also be preserved in alcohol instead of vinegar.

grape jam

Whether on bread or toast, with pancakes or in quark: jam can be used in many ways and tastes a thousand times better when you make it yourself. The production is not particularly difficult and the finished jam can be stored for a very long time. The more sugar it contains, the longer you can keep the jam in a dark and cool place.

• put the prepared grapes in a saucepan
• Stir the jam sugar into the grapes
• per kilogram of grapes comes the squeezed juice of one lemon
• Slowly heat and blend the mixture as the grapes start to break down
• After boiling, simmer on low for at least 10 minutes
• Fill into jars, close immediately and place on the lid

Freeze grapes

Since the grape season is relatively short at just under 3 months, you can simply freeze the small fruits for at least 6 months.

• possible with all grape varieties
• Wash the grapes and dry them well
• place in a container in the freezer
• pay attention to the distance between the grapes

A notice: You can enjoy the cold grapes in summer to cool off or let them thaw again.

grape juice

There are two ways you can easily make grape juice yourself at home. If you often have a lot of leftover grapes, it's worth investing in a juicer. This makes the process easier and faster. But even without this machine, you don't have to do without the taste of your own grape juice. Just be aware that the juice yield will be significantly lower with the method without an appropriate device and you will need more grapes.

With a juicer

First you should decide if you want a red or white grape juice. Of course, it is possible to combine light and dark fruits. You then gradually feed your grapes into the juicer, which will do the rest. Finally, a dry mass and the juice remain.

Tip: Filter the juice again through a clean cloth if there are any pieces of fruit left in it.

Without juicer

Even without the appropriate device, you can easily squeeze the grapes and get fresh juice. All you have to do is follow these steps:

• Heat selected grapes with a little water in a saucepan
• this causes the shell to burst and the fruity juice to escape
• let it cool down a bit
• press the mushy mass through a sieve
• the remaining pieces of fruit are filtered out through a cloth during sieving
• For a longer shelf life, briefly boil the juice again and fill it into sealable bottles

grape syrup

You can also easily make syrup from the grape juice:

• Boil grape juice
• simmer until it reaches a thick consistency

A notice: The syrup will thicken a little as it cools.

Grape jelly

Got some grape juice left over? Then you can also process it into jelly. You can also do the above two methods of extracting the juice here before. Make the grape jelly as follows:

• Boil 1 liter of grape juice with 500 grams of preserving sugar until bubbly
• Turn down the temperature and simmer for another 8 minutes
• Pour grape jelly into jars and seal
• place on the lid and let cool

Tip: Carry out a gel test. Put the jelly on a spoon and let it cool down, if the consistency is too runny, let it boil for another 2-3 minutes.

grape liqueur

Another option that you can make from the grape juice you made earlier is a liqueur. For this you need wheat grain with an alcohol content of 38%. You can make this with vodka just as well though.

• Mix the grape juice with the pulp of a vanilla bean
• Add vodka or wheat grain
• pour into a liqueur bottle

make raisins

Raisins are not everyone's favourite, but they are indispensable for certain dishes. You can easily dry these yourself at home from your grapes.

Dry in the sun in summer

The longer, but also more environmentally friendly and money-saving method is drying in the sun. You can easily do this by placing the grapes in the sun and protecting them from insects with a net. Depending on the intensity of the sun, the drying process can take up to 3 days. Make sure that the fruits are not surprised by rain during this time.

Dry in the oven

The much faster way to make raisins is against it drying in the oven.

• Spread the grapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
• oven to approx. Set 50 degrees Celsius
• the process takes several hours
• Open the oven door regularly so that the moisture can escape

make verjuice

The juice from unripe grapes is mainly used to refine food. The name comes from the French and means something like "green juice" and that's what it is. When the unripe grapes are pressed, a bright green juice is produced.

• Harvest grapes before they are ripe
• Do not wash grapes
• Natural yeast in the shell is used for the fermentation process
• pressing grapes
• Place in a bowl with sea salt and cover with a linen towel
• Leave to stand for almost 2 days until no more air bubbles form
• Filter juice through kitchen paper
• can be frozen as ice cubes or kept in the bottle

make wine

Producing your own wine is certainly interesting for wine fans. However, for this you need some experience and practice to make a good wine at home. In addition, you need a lot of equipment and materials. For a one-time attempt, the (financial) effort is usually not worth it. To do this, you must remember that making wine is an art for which there are courses. That's why you should first start with smaller quantities and not be disappointed if the noble drop doesn't work right away.

Tip: A visit to a wine farm or a wine seminar will clarify any questions and teach you the most basic techniques.

Winemaking - simply explained

First of all, decide whether you want to use the whole fruit for your wine (mash fermentation) or rather the less bitter juice of the grapes first (juice fermentation).

• crushed fruits of the mash fermentation in a fermenter
• Grapes juice in a fermenter
• addition of sugar
• Add dry yeast (do not use baker's yeast)
• The fermentation process begins after approx. 2 days and lasts up to 2 weeks
• ends when no more bubbles rise
• Add potassium pyrosulfite for shelf life
• Pour the wine into bottles and seal with a cork

make mulled wine

If you have already made the wine, you can refine it with a few spices and enjoy it in the cold season. The most common complementary ingredients are:

• cinnamon sticks
• cloves
• Apple juice
• orange slices

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