Last Wednesday and Thursday Strongheart and I had a lot of fun...seriously!
It all started here...
where he harvested these beauties...
It's a fruit steamer and it worked splendidly!
Let me introduce you to its parts and how they function.
This is the very bottom section of the three tiered steamer. It is filled with five quarts of water and you will notice that it also has some marbles floating. The marbles serve the purpose of letting you know that the water is boiling. If the marbles quit making noise, then you know your water is getting low or it has quit boiling.
The second section of the steamer is this, which Strongheart commented looked a bit like a tube cake pan. The hole in the middle is where the steam comes up through from the bottom.
Then the top part is where the grapes are placed. It looks a bit like a colander. The container is filled to the top and as the steam causes the grapes to release their juice, the juice filters through the holes to go down to the second section. Once the colander is filled, the lid is placed on top and the heat is turned on.
Notice the hose coming out of the second section and the clamp that allows the flow of the juice to be controlled.
The next part is the boring part...you simply let the grapes steam for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Then the real fun begins....
filling the jars!
And we had 11 quarts on Thursday. This isn't concentrated, so this winter when I want to make jelly or we want to have grape juice to drink, we just need to open a jar of juice and there we have it.
You may wonder why it is that we found this to be fun so I looked back through our pictures and found this video of how we used to do it.
This is Strongheart using the press that belonged to his father. We would wash the grapes, cook them down to get the juice flowing and then carry that out to the porch and he would run them throughthe press. Let me just say, that the squeezing of that took muscle.
That's a remarkable device! And I can imagine how much easier it is for Strong heart to help you now! The grape juice looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Melanie. It's definitely easier on Strongheart. No longer does he need to rest up a couple of days like he had to when we did the old way.
DeleteIsn't it fun to be doing things together?? That is so very sweet!! and I bet it tastes sweet as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, Friend, it certainly is! I'm so glad that he retired in 2018. And, yes, the juice is sweet...there's no need to add sugar!
DeleteWow! That looks to be much easier than the way you used to do it. Thanks for sharing this process.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is a lot easier, Monica. And you are welcome. :)
DeleteThat definitely looks like a much easier process! It's probably good we don't have grapes, because we don't drink grape juice and only go through a couple of jars of jelly or jam a year. :)
ReplyDeleteThe process is much easier. Now I have juice to make jelly and we will both enjoy a small glass of juice each morning with our breakfast when the snow flies this winter. :)
DeleteThat looks like a great contraption, much easier than your old method. And how nice to work together and accomplish something!
ReplyDeleteThat was my "new toy". I'd seen a YouTuber use one and showed it to Carroll. He already knew about it and when the company we order a lot of our seeds from sent out their catalog in January they happened to have the steamer listed. Carroll had finished out his seed order and he asked, "Is there anything in here that you want?" "Yes! The fruit steamer!" He just calmly added it to the list. I plan to use it for much more than just grapes. :)
DeleteWhat a great contraption those pots are for getting the result you wanted. The marbles in the water pot is so smart. I'm going to show this to our Colville kids. Happy juicing to you!
ReplyDeleteI have to confess, Ellen, that the marbles in the water pot idea came from the instruction book and it truly was helpful. Your Colville kids would love using one. You can do any kind of fruit in it. I plan to do some red raspberries and also some blueberries in it for the juice to make jelly with. It's a much easier and less messy way of getting the juice.
DeleteYou are more ambitious than I. :)
ReplyDelete:)...funny...I think you are more ambitious than I when it comes to the number of steps you walk each day, my friend. xx
DeleteThe steamer sure makes life easier. :)
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does!
DeleteWow! You and your husband have been very busy in the kitchen. The grape juice is such a gorgeous, vibrant color. It'll be so nice to have fresh juice this coming winter!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words here, Julia. That was so much fun! xx
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