Muscadine Grape Jelly

This weekend we were looking for something to do while waiting for our daughter to finish up feeding the horses at the barn where she rides. We drove past a place where we had previously picked grapes on Highway 90: Windy Hill Vineyard. They grow a Florida grape known as muscadines. These are large grapes with a particular flavor and large seeds.

Not yet ripe grapes growing on the vine.

 They had many rows of muscadine grapes. Pick your own were about $1.30 per pound, and you could buy pre-picked muscadines for $1.80/pound. They only take cash or check, so make sure you bring one or the other. They told us a full bucket would cost about $15.

Great social distancing activity, we were the only people in our row.

 We drove down to an area where they told us we could find both the red/purple muscadines and the golden scuppernongs and tried to keep our total under $20 (which was all the cash we had). We wanted to make jelly and from past experience, each of the varieties makes their very own beautiful color of jelly. The scuppernongs tend to have a sweeter flavor.

We picked both the purple muscadines and the scuppernong (gold) variety.

We ended up with about four pounds of each. Not enough for a full batch, but I did find this small-batch recipe: Small Batch Muscadine Jelly I used 2.5 pounds of each type to get the 2.5 cups of juice required (I had to add 1/2 cup water though because I couldn't squeeze more juice out, perhaps 3 pounds would be better). I got to use the frozen lemon juice I had from my Meyers lemons last winter. I estimated 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for the "juice of one lemon". I ended up getting four 8oz jars from each variety. The smaller batches work well because I have had had to toss jelly that didn't get eaten within 18 months before.

Garnet and Gold Muscadine Grape Jelly

We still have some muscadines left to eat fresh, although I have seen muscadine pie recipes as well. I love the flavor of muscadine grapes, they even are used in my favorite wines from Lake Ridge Winery Southern White, Southern Red, and Sunblush. I can usually find the white and red varieties at Publix.

Winter Solstice Dinner

Last year our family started celebrating the Winter Solstice, as a way to have a small family gathering before we see our parents for Christmas.  I try to make the meal as local as possible and order from the Red Hills On-line Farmers Market .  This market has the motto of "Shop Naked" because you pick out your order on-line sometime between Sunday and Wednesday morning at 6am and then pick up your items at the Bread and Roses Food Cooperative on Thursday after 5pm.

I looked at the items available and decided to do a beef stew.  Someone recommended a chestnut and beef stew and I found a recipe to try.  I substituted turnips for potatoes in the recipe, since that was what was available locally at this time. 

Carrots and turnips from Full Earth Farm, beef from Deep Roots Meat, and chestnuts from Blue Ridge Farm

I steamed the chestnuts using my rice cooker/steamer after looking up some instructions on-line.  First I cut them in half vertically and then steamed them on the highest setting of water for 20 minutes.  They were hot, and peeled very easily.  Their meat is rich and tasty.

The recipe called for a red wine.  I was all out of my red wine from Florida wineries.  Luckily I shopped for additional ingredients at one of the larger Publix stores and they had a selection of red wines from Florida wineries.  I decided on the Vintner's Red from San Sebastian Winery over in St. Augustine, since I have not yet been to that winery.  I also looked at the Southern Red at Lake Ridge Winery near Clermont, I have been there before and like many of their wines.

We also served a salad with lettuce from Ragged Glory Farm (this is the first I had heard of it) and carrot slices with a dressing of ponderosa lemon juice and almond oil.  While the produce was fresh and tasty the salad really could have used something else, I am not quite sure what though.

The beef and chestnut stew was very yummy and made for a nice, local Winter Solstice dinner, especially since a cold front had just come through, making the weather perfect for a hot stew to enjoy before opening our presents.

I even got two new cook books that were published this year and are specifically about local eating in Florida!



Winter Solstice presents from my family, can't wait to read them!