Muscadine Jam is a sweet and tangy jam made with the muscadine grapes. Similar to concord grape jam, but not as sweet. It is a delicious condiment that goes great on biscuits or toast, and makes a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
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❤️ Why you'll love it
✔️ You get 7 half-pints jars of delicious sweet jam!
✔️ There is no need for added pectin! The lemon does the work of thickening the jam.
✔️ The muscadine grape lends a powerful grape flavor to the sweet and tangy jam.
🥘 Ingredients
Muscadine Grapes
Lemon
Sugar
🔪 Instructions
- Remove the pulp from the grape skin. Place pulp, including the grape seeds, in a large pot and grape skins in a separate bowl.
- Place the grape skins in a heavy duty blender and blend until skins are finely ground. Transfer to a large saucepan.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the grape pulps to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until pulp breaks down.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the grape skins to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until skins have softened. Add a little water if needed to keep the skin mixture moist (I did not need the water).
- Remove the grape pulps from the cooktop and transfer pulp to a sieve placed over top of a large bowl. Stir the pulp mixture. The grape fibers and seeds will stay in the sieve, while the pulp juice will go into a bowl.
- Return the grape pulp juice to a large stockpot. Set aside.
- Strain the grape skin mixture if desired (not required).
- Add the grape skin mixture, lemon juice, and lemon rind to the grape pulp juice. Stir to combine. Add the sugar and stir until sugar dissolves.
- Place the grape mixture over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until jam has thickened.
- Transfer to jars and seal. Store in refrigerator.
🥄 Equipment
Blender: I used my Nutribullet, but a food processor or heavy duty blender can also be used.
Large pots: you will need two of these for cooking the grape pulp and skins separately.
Whisk: to mix the jam while it is simmering
Flathead wooden spoon: for stirring the jam and scraping the bottom of the pot while the jam is cooking
Funnel: used for transferring the jam into the jar without jam running outside of the mouth of the jar.
Measuring cup: I use a 1 cup measure, which is all you need to fill a half pint jar.
7 half pint jars with lids
🥫Storage
7 pints of jam for my family is a small batch recipe, so I stored my jam in pint jars in the refrigerator as I have room for it. As long as the jars are sealed and not opened, the jam can last in the fridge up to 6 months, maybe longer.
Jam can also be placed in freezer safe containers kept in the freezer no longer than a year.
You can also can the jam by sterilizing the jars and lids and placing the hot jam in the jars, making sure to leave ½ inch headspace. Wipe the lip of the jar and place seal and cap on the jam. Place the jars in a boiling water bath canner and process for 10 minutes.
📖 Variations
- Reduce to 5 cups of sugar for a less sweet jam.
- Press the cooked skins through a sieve or food mill to remove more of the grape skin pieces. The jam will have less bulk to it and closer to muscadine jelly. I did this for my 2nd batch and preferred how it turned out over the first batch with all of the blended grape skin in the jam.
💭 Tips
- Allow for at least 3 hours of your time to make this grape jam. It takes at least 30 minutes to remove the pulp from the grape skins and then you will need 1-½ to 2 hours simmer time for the jam.
📚 Related Recipes
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I love to keep this Apple Pie Spice on hand.
You can make your own Roasted Red Peppers right at home for a fraction of the cost!
Everyone loves these Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies with Almond Icing.
🍽 Serve with...
Serve jam on toast or biscuits. It also makes a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
🏫 The last word
I grew up watching my mom make concord grape jelly. It was one of my favorite condiments for toast and sandwiches, but I never attempted to make it because jelly seemed to be too much work. Concord grapes don't grow in the south, where I now live, so I went with the popular muscadine grape grown in warmer climates.
When I moved to North Carolina, I was curious enough to go grape picking to see what the Muscadines were all about. It is a sweet grape with a musky aroma. They have thick skins and to me seem similar to a concord grape, in the fact that the insides of the grapes are sour but the juice on the inside of the skin is sweet.
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📖 Recipe
Muscadine Jam
Equipment
- 7 jam jars with seal and caps
- large stockpot
- Large saucepan
- funnel
- sieve
- lemon juicer
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Ingredients
- 5 pounds muscadine grapes
- 6 cups granulated sugar
- 1 medium lemon
Instructions
- Remove the pulp from the grape skin. Place pulp, including the grape seeds, in large stockpot and grape skins in a large bowl.
- Place the grape skins in a heavy duty blender and blend until skins are finely ground. Transfer to a large saucepan.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the grape pulps to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until pulp breaks down.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the grape skins to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until skins have softened.
- Remove the grap pulps from the cooktop and transfer pulp to a sieve placed over top of a large bowl. Stir the pulp mixture. The grape fibers and seeds will stay in the sieve, while the pulp juice will go into a bowl.
- Return the grape pulp juice to a large stockpot. Set aside.
- Strain the grape skin mixture if desired (not required).
- Add the grape skin mixture, lemon juice, and lemon rind to the grape pulp juice. Stir to combine. Add the sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved.
- Place the grape mixture over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until jam has thickened.
- Transfer to jars and seal. Store in refrigerator.
Linda Kelley says
Do the lemon chunks cook down?
Shelby Law Ruttan says
Hi Linda, jam is a bit on the chunky side, (jelly is smooth) so you do have pieces of fruit in it. If yo don't want to use the lemon rind, feel free to just zest the lemon with a microplane zester and use that instead of the pieces of lemon rind.