I moved to Georgia this past weekend and am currently staying at my family’s farm house in a small town outside of Athens. My dad has an overabundance of muscadines growing in the backyard and asked me if I could find something to do with them. If you haven’t heard of muscadines before, they are a grapevine native to the southeastern United States. They’re super delicious and grow in abundance in the South. They have a tough outer skin and have a sweet, juicy pulp on the inside. To eat muscadines, you squeeze them to extract the pulp, eat the pulp, and spit out the seeds! I was so excited yesterday to begin my first experiment with cooking with muscadines, and it actually turned out pretty tasty. Here’s my simple muscadine jelly recipe:
5 cups muscadine juice (I pressed a few batches of muscadines until I reached 5 cups, and I’d estimateit’s about 4 gallons of muscadines)
6 cups sugar
1/3 cup pectin
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Jelly Jar Sterilization
I was a bit intimidated by sterilizing jars; something about boiling hot water, hot sugary liquid, and glass make me nervous. So I googled an alternative sterilization method and found you can sterilize your jars by heating them in the oven. The proper way is obviously to boil them, and if you’re brave enough, go for it! If you’re a wimp like me, heat the jars in the oven at 225 Fahrenheit for at least 15 minutes and leave them in there until you are filling them with your jelly. They will be pretty hot so use a dish towel to handle them when filling.
Next Step:
Now it’s time to juice the muscadines. I didn’t have a large pot so I heated a few smaller pots filled with muscadines on the stove top and basically just squished them with the potato masher to get the juice out. I squished them for a good ten minutes until the liquid turned a beautiful plum color.
After you’ve squished the muscadines, pour them into a strainer to strain out the skins, seeds, and bits. What you’ll be left with is a gorgeous, tangy, purple liquid of the Gods 😉 I tossed the leftover mush into my compost tumbler.
Now, put the juice back on the stove top to reheat. Add the pectin and bring it to a boil for a couple of minutes. You want to dissolve all of the pectin in the juice and then add the sugar. Be sure to continuously stir the liquid so it doesn’t burn. I let it boil for a couple of minutes. If it doesn’t seem to be “jelling” you can add a bit more pectin. My jelly turned out not as jelly-ish as I would have liked so I think next time I might add a little more pectin. It’s all a matter of preference though really.
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Last Step:
Lastly, it’s time to fill the jars. They should still be in the oven staying warm so be careful with the hot glass when you take them out. Fill each jar with the jelly, but leave a small amount of space at the top of each jar. Wipe off any excess dripping liquid on the rim of the jars and put the lids on. All that’s left is letting the jars of jelly cool and then enjoy! You should refrigerate the jelly and use it within three months.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my simple muscadine jelly recipe! Have you ever experimented with homemade jam/jelly making?! Tell me your stories 🙂
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Kim
November 1, 2019
Do u add any water to this recipe?
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Sylvia
August 25, 2020
For 5 cups of juice, use 1 cup of water.
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B Casper
August 23, 2022
I just finished making Muscadine Jelly from your recipe. It was really helpful, I wouldn’t have known the amount of sugar to add or when/how to add the pectin. Super great result! Thank you! BC
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B Casper
August 23, 2022
I just finished making Muscadine Jelly from your recipe. It was really helpful, I wouldn’t have known the amount of sugar to add or when/how to add the pectin. Super great result! Thank you! BC
Reply
Lucille
September 6, 2022
why did you not use the water bath process, to keep them preserved longer? mine will be stored on the shelf.
This is an easy step-by-step recipe for muscadine jelly or jam using sure jell powdered pectin or certo liquid pectin. This recipe can also be used interchangeably with scuppernongs. Cute jar label printable included!
There are many ways to use muscadine grapes, from desserts to smoothies to savory dishes, to home-made jelly and preserves. See our recipe collection. Freezing grapes: You can also freeze them for later use. You can pop the hulls off, then press them tightly together (to remove air) into a freezer container.
The term muscadine refers to the darker grapes in some circles, while Scuppernong refers to the white or bronze grapes. However, these are all muscadine varieties that are from same species. It's a little like humans, while we may look a little different, we are all basically the same!
Too little sugar: Much like pectin, some fruits are higher in natural sugar than others. Jams made from fruits with higher sugar content thicken on their own more easily than those with less sugar. A no-sugar or low-sugar recipe might not call for enough sugar to naturally thicken the jam, even at a rolling boil.
You will need approximately half the amount of pectin that is indicated by your recipe. Please be careful when adding pectin as too much will leave you with a set that is too solid and it is not possible to rectify this so always add less than you think is necessary and test the set and then add more if required.
Add 1½ teaspoons liquid pectin per cup of jelly or jam and stir until well blended (about 3 minutes). Pour into clean containers. Cover with tight lids. Let stand in refrigerator until set.
The mixture should boil 1 minute after adding pectin. Time should not be counted until the mixture has reached a full rolling boil—one that cannot be stirred down. For best flavor, use fully ripe fruit when making jelly with added pectin.
Sadly, however, you can't freeze jelly. We won't go into the scientific specifics of it all, but essentially the chemical bonds that make gelatin are broken when you freeze jelly, meaning it becomes a liquid mess when you defrost it.
Prepare grapes by cutting partway through the skin and popping the pulp/seed capsule out of the hull. Put pulp into one pot and the hulls into another. Simmer the pulp, covered, until soft enough to press through sieve or food mill ~ 10 minutes.
Varieties with a wet stem-end scar, such as Regale, will not store well and should be processed soon after harvest. Varieties with a dry stem scar, such as Summit and Doreen, will keep well for at least a week if refrigerated at 35 degrees to 45 degrees F.
Can you eat the seeds and/or skins of the muscadines? It really is a matter of preference, but the short answer is yes! Some people do not like the texture or flavor of the seeds and skins, so they eat only the pulp and spit out the rest.
It is also known as the "scufalum", "scupanon", "scupadine", "scuppernine", "scupnun", or "scufadine" in some parts of the South. The scuppernong is the state fruit of North Carolina. Some muscadines in a bowl; the green ones are scuppernongs.
Muscadine wine is also a great source of resveratrol, which is a potent antioxidant. Muscadine grapes contain more of this compound than other types of grapes, and some of the highest antioxidant levels among all fruits, which means that muscadine wine is likely richer in this antioxidant than other types.
FOR JUICE: Lightly mash berries and cook in water on top of stove for about 20 mins over medium/med high heat. FOR JELLY: Strain berries through cheesecloth, wire mesh strainer or sieve. SAVE JUICE! Discard berries and seeds.
When you are ready to preserve the grape juice, remove it from the refrigerator without disturbing the sediment on the bottom of the pan. Carefully pour or dip the liquid off into another pan. If you would like to have a clearer juice, pour it through another filter - like cheese cloth or even a coffee filter.
Recent research shows that muscadine juice and muscadine wine have a positive effect on type 2 diabetes by decreasing blood-glucose levels, improving cholesterol status, lowering triglycerides and prevention of blood clotting. Muscadine wines have significantly more resveratrol than wines from other grape varieties.
You don't need fresh fruit to create this delicious grape jelly recipe. A bottle of juice is the shortcut star in this quick canning recipe. There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a grape juice for this recipe. You'll want 100% unsweetened concord grape juice.
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