Grape juice is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals, the most useful of which are salts of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, silicon, iron, vitamins A, B and C, iodine. To be sure of the use of a truly natural product, you can make the juice yourself, guided by simple recipes described later in the article.

The main principles of creating grape juice

Juice production is no less exciting process than winemaking, and also requires knowledge of basic theoretical issues related to technology.

The basic tenets of creating juice from grape berries:

1. The use of mature and benign raw materials. Berries that are rotten, unripe and infected with mildew, oidium and other diseases should be discarded. Otherwise, the finished product will not only have an unpleasant aftertaste, but also contain mycotoxins.
2. The choice of the optimal grade.
3. Processing of berries should begin within 12 hours after collection and occur as quickly as possible, until vitamins have collapsed from prolonged contact with air, the color has not changed, and fermentation processes have not begun.
4. The addition of sugar is optional, but possible (to taste or when using acidic varieties).
5. Removing grape ridges (brushes) is required for white varieties (for the beautiful color of the drink), dark varieties can do without it.
6. Berries are thoroughly washed.
7. Fresh product in the fastest time begins to undergo fermentation, therefore, early conservation is necessary.
8. All containers (bottles, jars) must be sterilized. The lids also need to be boiled for several minutes.

Important! It is strongly not recommended to use metal utensils due to oxidation processes leading to a deterioration in the quality of the drink. Enamelled, glass or wooden containers are best suited.

How to choose grapes for juice

When planning to make juice, you need to get acquainted with the features of various varieties. The biochemical parameters of the fruit, in particular, the sugar acid index (SRI), can be found in the tables in specialized reference books. To obtain a quality product, SKI must be in the range 22–28.

The best juices are made from wine varieties:

• Lydia
  

• Muscat
  

• Riesling;
  

• Moldova;
  

• Violet Early;
  

• Chasla
  

• Ryton;
  

• Bukovinka;
  

• Bianca
  

Although in fact juice can be obtained from any grape, including table varieties, the only question is the characteristics of the finished product. It is not only about taste, but also about color, transparency, and the amount of drink received.

The amount of juice in the fruit

For the production of a grape drink it is necessary to imagine how much product will be obtained from 1 kg of raw materials. The most juicy are technical large-fruited varieties (almost all of the above), which give a large yield of juice (75–85% by weight, that is, the amount of liquid is 750–850 mg per 1 kg of berries) and a little cake, while white juices are not inferior to juiciness in blue.

Did you know? The ancestor of all juices can be considered it is in foreign . Its manufacture is part of winemaking, the history of which dates back more than 7000 years. Boiled juice, being a highly nutritious product, replaced a person with unknown sugar then. Nowadays, grape concentrates (backmes, grape honey) are also used by confectioners.

You can squeeze the juice:

• through cheesecloth;
• through a sieve;
• using a blender;
• in a conventional meat grinder with a cone-shaped nozzle;
• on an electric meat grinder.

But the best result in terms of quality and output is the use of a juicer with the function of squeezing fruits with seeds.

Methods for making grape juice

There are many recipes for making this vitamin drink. It is often blended (mixed with other juices) to lighten, reduce acidity, or simply in search of new flavor combinations. The rest of the article discusses the simplest recipes that are most popular.

A simple recipe for making juice using a juicer

A juice cooker is used to separate liquid by heating the fruit with hot steam. There is no need to squeeze grapes in advance. The advantage of the juice evaporator is that it allows you to process large volumes of berries. The disadvantages of juicers include the preservation of fewer nutrients and a sufficiently long cooking time.

Important! Glassware in which juice is collected must be heated so as not to crack upon contact with hot liquid.

Of the ingredients required:

• grapes (the amount depends on the volume of the juicer, an average of about one bucket);
• 1–1.5 cups of sugar;
• water.

The cooking algorithm is as follows:

1. Water is poured into the lower pot of the cooker (80% of the pot volume), and berries are placed in the upper one. You can add sugar directly to the berries or then to the finished juice. The middle pan serves as a reservoir for collecting liquid, from which the drink flows through a tube into the prepared dishes. The top pan is covered with a lid.
2. Sokovarka is put on fire (first on strong, after boiling the fire is reduced).
3. The cooking process takes about an hour. From time to time you need to add water to the lower pan. You do not need to add berries until all the juice comes out of them. After an hour, you can open the lid and crush the pulp with a wooden spoon to squeeze out the remaining fluid.
4. Being already pasteurized in the course of processing by steam, the drink is bottled and cooled.

Video: making a grape juice using a juicer

Grape juice at home through a juicer

It is best to use a screw juicer with a stone fruit nozzle. Thanks to the powerful press, it squeezes berries almost to dryness and preserves the maximum of nutrients in the finished product. The disadvantages of such a juicer include its high price and inability to process large quantities of raw materials. For a small family, the screw juicer is ideal.

To prepare you need to take:

• grapes - 5 kg;
• sugar to taste;
• water.

Did you know? In medicine, grape treatment is called ampelotherapy. Experts equate it with alkaline mineral water therapy because of the similar composition.

The process consists of the following steps:

1. Berries are passed through a juicer.
2. The resulting liquid is left to stand for several hours and filtered through gauze to clarify.
3. Sugar can be added as desired.
4. Juice is boiled over low heat for 15 minutes, poured into jars, pasteurized and rolled up.

Video: making grape juice with a juicer

Recipe "Manual Spin"

Manual spinning requires a lot of time and effort. The method can be used in the absence of technical devices, without forgetting to wear thin sterile gloves - otherwise you can get a burn of your hands due to the natural acids in the grapes.

Since the recipe itself is very simple, a minimum of ingredients is required:

• grapes;
• sugar to taste.

The manual spinning method involves the use of pulp (pulp and seed mass) and includes the following steps:

1. Stretch the berries thoroughly.
2. Strain the liquid with gauze or flannel into the pan.
3. Pour the pulp with clean water, boil for 10 minutes, cool. Then strain and pour into the main juice of the first extraction.
4. Add sugar if desired.
5. Pour the drink into cans. Pasteurize them, close and cool.

Video: manual preparation of grape juice

Cooking method

The method of cooking with pits is the simplest possible. It does not require spinning and special kitchen appliances. The resulting drink will be less saturated and have a tart pitted aftertaste.

Ingredients Required:

• grapes - 5 kg;
• water - 2 l;
• sugar - 800 g.

You will be interested to know if grapes are a berry or a fruit.

The drink is brewed as follows:

1. The berries separated from the brushes are placed in a pan and poured with water.
2. The contents of the pan are brought to a boil and cooked for half an hour.
3. Then the pan is removed from the heat, the contents are filtered, sweetened and mixed.
4. The drink is brewed for another 10 minutes, then it is poured into containers, corked and cooled.

Apple and grape juice: a step by step recipe

Apples and grapes perfectly complement each other in taste and content of useful substances (for example, apples contain an excess of pectin and succinic acid). Such a homemade workpiece can be made both in a juicer - by mixing apples and grapes in the required proportions and placing them together in the upper pan-grid, and squeezing the fruits in turn in a juicer. As for the ingredients, the ratio of apples to grapes can be different, with an advantage in one direction or another, to taste. If a sweet apple variety is used, then sugar can be omitted.

Find out if grapes with pits can be consumed.

The cooking process includes the following steps:

1. Cores and tails are removed from apples. The fruits are cut into four parts and passed through a juicer.
   

2. While the apple juice settles and the foam is condensed on it, you need to squeeze the grapes.
   

3. Foam is removed from both fluids.
4. Drinks are combined, quickly boiled, not boiling, and poured into banks.
   

5. Banks pasteurize and roll up.
   

Video: making apple grape juice

With pulp

To prepare a thick product with pulp, you will need grapes and a meat grinder with a conical nozzle.

To prepare such a drink is not difficult - for this you need:

• skip the berries through a meat grinder;
• pour the resulting liquid with pulp, without filtering, into a pan (adding sugar if desired) and pasteurize;
• pour into jars and cork.

Preservation of grape juice for the winter

To prevent fermentation and provide optimal storage conditions, two main preservation methods are used:

• pasteurization;
• hot filling method.

Sterilization in the manufacture of juice is not used, since prolonged boiling is detrimental to vitamins and minerals, and also negatively affects the taste characteristics.

Important! During pasteurization before closing in jars, temperature and time control should be observed so that the juice does not boil for a long time, losing its beneficial properties.

Pasteurization

Pasteurization (that is, heat treatment at a temperature below the boiling point of water (80 ° C) for 10-15 minutes) is traditionally considered a more reliable way of preserving. The drink can be pasteurized before pouring into cans, or after, placing the filled containers in a wide pan with water and first putting a wooden stand on the bottom for greater stability.

Hot bottling

Due to the large number of natural acids, grape juice is not susceptible to the development of bacteria, and therefore can be preserved hot.

However, you need to monitor compliance with the following rules:

• Before filling the cans, the product must be practically brought to a boil (up to 95 ° C) and removed from heat;
• the drink is quickly poured into pre-heated cans and immediately rolled up.

The sterilizing effect is achieved due to the slow cooling of the product in a hermetically sealed container.

Fragrant grape juice will be an excellent source of vitamins during the winter cold. There are many ways to make a tasty and healthy drink with your own hands, the simplest and most common of which are discussed in the article.