Mustang Jelly

I know why you want Mustang grapes...



All you wanna do is slide around in jelly ....(Slide jelly slide)

Not mustang jelly, you don't. You smear it on toast, along with butter. You put it in peanut butter sammiches. Then, believe it or don't, you eat it.

Mustang jelly
First you better boil those Mustangs down
Mustang jelly, now baby
Guess you better boil those Mustangs down
Careful how much you boil it down
Ooh, I guess you gotta strain it and stir it all around

Spoken: "Sing it to me one more time girls."

-Chorus-
All you wanna do is make that jelly
Tell you, one of these early mornings
It's gonna good eatin with biscits n fries, yeah

Sounds like a committment to me.

Soon they will be getting ripe. I need to have that recipe before then.

I found this on Cooks.com



MUSTANG GRAPE JELLY/JAM

About 3 1/2 pounds of mustang grapes (this can vary). Cover the grapes with water, using a large pot. Boil until the skins of the grapes crack. Mash grapes in a colander and save the juice. Puree the grapes for jam; strain for jelly. Mix 1/2 mustang juice and 1/2 Welch's unsweetened grape juice, or you can use all mustang juice. Follow directions in Sure-Jell box.

Common Name: Mustang Grape
Species: Vitis mustangensis

Longevity: Perennial

Origin: Native
Height: 6 m
Flowers: April
Fruits: Summer
A vigorous high-climbing woody vine. Can be very aggressive, outcompeting other vegetation. Leaves are dull dark green above and dull gray below. Young leaves and stems are covered with white cobweb-like hair. Occurs on sandy soils mostly in bottomlands of major rivers and streams. Is drought resistant. Fruit is eaten by humans and many species of birds and mammals. Fruit can be eaten raw but due to an acrid juice beneath the skin, it is best used to make wine and jelly.

First you have to find a Sure-Jell box....

The recipe I found calls for Welch's grape juice. How do we have Mustang Jelly, using that?

This sounds simple... for grape jelly.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1623,147184-253207,00.html


Interesting turkish recipe for grape jam - the apple supplies the pectin - http://www.turkishcookbook.com/2007/04/grape-jam.php

wild grape jam here -
http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-3948.html

I gathered from reading a few of these recipes that seeds float to the top and can be spooned off.


Urrgg, that first cooks.com recipe seems to be missing pectin.

The grapes are ripening. In a week or so I need to make my commitment.

Them grapes was not easy to gather. The vines grow over and through a stand of trees. I left a good 3/4 of them up there; too dangerous to put my ladder in many places. But, I cut the vines and all, where I could, and dropped them in some 45 gallon plastic bags. It was a major project to separate the fruit from the vines, at home. I had time to cook them tonight, but not to make the actual jelly. I hope I've got enough jars.