Walnut Grape Jam

What's a girl to do with an abundance 

of grapes this year?

Walnut Grape Jam,

does that sound as intriguing to you as it

did to me?

Rettabug at The Gazebo House

posted a comment on my

Harvest Grapes Tablescape

saying if she were me, she would be making

Walnut Grape Jam,

and that her parents and grandparents

had grape arbors and they always

made Walnut Grape Jam.

I had planned on trying my hand at 

grape juice

so I went out and bought a steam juicer.

They also had half gallon jars at the

Mending Shed

in town where I bought the juicer

so I bought a case of six of those.

What fun it was to juice more than 20 lbs. 

of Concord grapes and bottle the juice.

(I was able to get 4 half gallon jars - almost

full out of that many grapes.)

I couldn't stop thinking about Rett's

idea so I got on the internet and searched

for Walnut Grape Jam and a recipe

came up for

Grape Conserve I

by Wenger Grapes that added 1 C. of walnuts

to the recipe.  So I decided to give it a try.

I left a couple of jelly jars plain grape jelly

for those who didn't want nuts in theirs.

I got excited about the combination.

My sister Jean in Texas always brings me

a peach topping with pecans in it, so why not

grape with walnuts. 

I just followed the recipe in the 

Sure Jell

box for freezer grape jelly

using my already preserved grape juice

and added the walnuts before spooning

the jam/jelly into the jelly jars.

I had Trader Joe's Candied Walnuts on hand

and those worked great.

Walnut Grape Jam

(or Jelly if you want)

2 C. grape juice

4 C. sugar

 2 T. water

1 envelope Certo Sure Jell Pectin

(I used the liquid pouches)

1 1/2 C. sugared walnuts, chopped

(or you could use plain - I would toast them for flavor first)

Directions (I just followed the package directions.)

Place the grape juice in a bowl and add sugar, measuring 

accurately.  Stir occassionally for 10 minutes.  Then in a small bowl

place the water and pectin and stir together.  Stir it into

the grape juice mixture.  Stir for 3 minutes.  The sugar should

be almost completely dissolved by now.

Now stir in the walnuts.  I only used 1 C. walnuts as I didn't

put walnuts in all of my jars, so if you don't want walnuts in

some, spoon the jam into sterilized jars that are to be left plain

before you stir in the walnuts to the remaining jam.  Spoon

the remaining jam with walnuts into sterlized jars.

This makes about 6 C.

Cover with sterlized lids.  Let sit on the counter overnight

to jell.  Store in fridge if you are eating it right away

or in the freezer.

Print here for printable recipe.

If you are a nut lover, you are going to love this

great combination.  We ate some on toast

and some just by the spoonful.  I think this

calls for a batch of homemade rolls - ooh, a major

downfall of mine!

Thanks Rett for the great suggestion.  

My daughter with four kids chose a jar

without nuts, but she loved the one with nuts herself.

I will be posting with

Foodie Fridays

On the Menu Monday