concord grapes - what to do with infinite amount

hey y’all -

recently moved to a little house in a little town that has a 10ft long archway FULL of concord grapes. they’re all ripening right now. yesterday i only got the easy ones and came in with two gallons.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THEM??? (my kids had a grape seed spitting battle. admirable, but sticky.)

last year i made jelly, and unless there’s an easier process, i don’t want to do that again. i don’t have a lot of equipment and can’t attain fancy strainers and presses.

i was wondering about wine or vinegar. or something else i know now.

double points for retention of medicinal qualities.

and if i can’t figure it out right away, is it ok to freeze them til i can?

thanks

wine or vinegar will need some kind of press or something, and i agree that they’re probably about the easiest thing you could approach. maybe the old-fashioned foot-stomping, after a very good foot-washing?

If they are picked over (e.g. remove any rotting/ infested ones), they will keep for weeks in refrigerator. Make sure they are dry and have good air circulation. A cloth-lined basket or colander is good.

An easy way to make purée which can be frozen for later is simmer the whole, de-stemmed grapes ina pot for maybe 10 minutes until they just fall apart. Use a pasta strainer or other rather large-holed colander to strain out the seeds. Pushing the pulp about with a wooden spoon will help, but if you’re not too concerned with maximum yield, could chuck whatever doesn’t easily mush through. Note that the best strainer for this is one with holes nearly the size of the grape seeds.

I'd make jelly (though it's hard to imagine choosing it over our raspberry), wine, and raisins.

Greg's foot stomping thought is quite viable, particularly if you can spare a sturdy pillow case. Put the washed grapes in the pillow case, tightly tie off the open end, and put the case in a (very clean) trug,washtub,etc. Put on some music, and get dancing on those grapes. From there, you can go with wine, vinegar, jelly, gummies, fruit roll-ups, bottled or frozen juice...  

Here is a recipe for making Concord grape Pie:

Concord Grape Pie

The Food Network has lots of idea:

Concord grape Layer Cake

Concord Grape Lemonade

Other suggestions:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/search/concord-grapes-

In a different vein of thought, you could send the kids door to door to sell them to neighbours

I have lots of muscadines, but I imagine it has similar processing and uses to concord grapes. I freeze them, thaw, and then squeeze through a "nut milk" bag or cheese cloth. It's much easier to squeeze the juice out after they've been frozen.

I can't use raw muscadine juice. Otherwise, I'd be making sherbet, juice, popsicles, and such. Instead, I simmer the juice until it's thick. Then it can be used in baking or sweetened for syrup or glaze. I've made muscadine muffins with the concentrated juice, and they were a big hit.

I agree Nikki,if you cant process them right away anyhow,freeze then thaw is much easier,but wine is fine,and jelly is good for the belly.I think the skin is the most medicinal part but i could be wrong,perhaps someone else will have more info on that.