Isabella grape jam is a rather unusual dessert. However, along with traditional preparations for the winter, such as apple, raspberry, cherry jam, it can please with a delicate taste and surprise with a spicy bouquet. If you are ready for culinary experiments, we suggest you find out some popular recipes for preparing grape dessert for the winter.

Features of Isabella grape jam

Isabella grape variety has a rich composition of vitamins and minerals and is considered one of the most useful: a group of vitamins B (B1, B2, B4, B5, B6, B9), beta-carotene, vitamins A, PP, H, E. The dark color of Isabella fruits Contribute to the antioxidants contained in the peel, which are indispensable in the fight against cancerous tumors.

Properly prepared jam from it will be able to preserve most of the useful components and become a “natural pharmacy” during viral and acute respiratory diseases, such as, for example, classic raspberry preparations, due to the content of vitamin C.

The fruits of the Isabella variety are rich in potassium and magnesium, so jam from such berries will positively affect the work of the cardiovascular system, help lower blood pressure. The presence of flavonoids will have a beneficial effect on the general cleansing of the body of salts of heavy metals, as well as toxins and toxins.

The peculiarity of Isabella grape jam is not only in its rich vitamin content, unusual strawberry flavor and aroma. The dense peel and pulp of the berries contribute to the fact that the desserts have a beautiful dark purple color and a particularly thick consistency.

Depending on the cooking recipe, you can also achieve the integrity of the grapes and use them to decorate dessert dishes. Jam is used as jam (can be spread on toasts), in baking for toppings, in the preparation of soufflé and marmalade.

Did you know? The beneficial properties of Isabella are not limited to fruits. The leaves of grapes are an excellent healing agent for external wounds and bruises, and are also able to reduce fever and relieve inflammation.

It should be remembered that any jam is a fairly high-calorie product, so its use should be limited to people with health problems and sugar consumption. For grape jam, patients at risk of diabetes, kidney and liver diseases, as well as children under 3 years old are at risk.

How to choose and prepare grapes

Grapes are a perishable product, and only fresh, dense berries are suitable for jam, so harvesting for the winter is done immediately after acquiring the berries. Ideally, if Isabella grows in your garden, then you can achieve maximum freshness of the initial raw materials.

The process of preparing grapes for cooking jam can be divided into the following stages:

1. First, the berries are separated from the brush. Do this carefully, trying not to damage their integrity.
2. Along the way, they discard rotten, ripe or damaged grapes.
3. The selected berries are washed, however, because of the delicate peel, this should not be done under the tap water, but by dipping the grapes into a container with already poured water. A lot of water should be used, and a volume for washing is selected.
4. Rinse the grapes several times.
5. Next, the berries need to be dried from the water. They do not get wet with a towel and do not wipe, but spread out to dry naturally.

The preparation of the berries is over. You can start making jam.

How to Make Isabella Jam at Home

Culinary specialists have long known the wonderful taste of grape jam, so there are many options for its preparation. The main ingredients remain almost the same, only their proportions change.

Unconventional and extraordinary additives are good as an experiment and desire to achieve an unusual taste, smell or texture. In some cases, this is justified, but you should always start with the classic basics. We offer you to get acquainted with the most popular cooking options and choose a suitable recipe for yourself.

Did you know? Grapes is the only plant of its kind for which there is an independent science - ampelography. And the beneficial properties of berries have become the basis for a special medical practice called ampelotherapy (grape therapy).

Recipe number 1

Seedless

Seedless jams are universally applicable. The tender, pitted and peeled texture makes it an amazing home-made jam that is good on its own or can be used in a variety of pastries.

Check out the best seedless grape recipes.

Ingredient Steps 4 Video Recipe

• Isabella grapes

  1 kg

• granulated sugar

  1 kg

• agar agar thickener

  10 g

• water

  3 tbsp

1. Wash grape brushes thoroughly.
2. Carefully separate all the berries from the stalks, discarding the rotten and mashed, and put them in the dishes in which the jam will be prepared.
3. Pour all the sugar in the container with berries according to the recipe and immediately put on medium heat for cooking.
4. Stir sugar for even distribution over the berries and continue stirring until juice begins to stand out. During this boiling time, the dense peel of the grape berries will have time to soften well and “give” the pectin syrup.
5. After the juice is allocated, and the syrup boils, it is necessary to reduce the heat to a minimum and cook the berries for another 10-15 minutes.
6. With this method of cooking, the jam is quite liquid. To thicken it, you can use a natural thickener of plant origin agar-agar. Take 10 g of agar-agar (1 standard package), pour it into a separate small bowl, fill with three tablespoons of water and leave to dissolve and swell.
7. To get rid of the seeds, the berries cooked with sugar in a hot state are wiped through a metal colander with a small cell or a sieve. If the sieve is small in diameter, then the procedure is performed in several portions. As a result, grape bones and peel remain at the bottom of the sieve.
8. Grinded grapes are again sent to the container for cooking. At this stage, finished agar agar is added to it. In order for the thickener to dissolve well, you can pour a little mashed grapes into the dishes with it and mix thoroughly, and then pour it into a pan with berries. Put the dishes on medium heat and cook for 5 minutes, during which the thickener will completely dissolve.
9. Pour hot grape jam into sterilized jars and cover with lids for storage.

Grape Jam: video

Video recipe

After cooling completely, the dessert keeps its shape perfectly.

Important! If you use less sugar (0.5 kg) in the recipe and remove agar-agar, you can get no less tasty jam, but to a lesser extent caloric and more liquid.

Recipe number 2

Pitted

Cooking grape jam with seeds is easier for labor, but longer in time. It should be remembered that dessert with stones can be stored only for 6-8 months.

Steps 4 Ingredients

• Isabella grapes

  1 kg

• granulated sugar

  1.2 kg

• water

  200 g

• vanillin

  2 g

1. Take 1 kg of ripe fresh Isabella grapes, separate the berries from the brush, remove all the stalks and rinse well several times, lowering them into a container with plenty of water.
2. Next, the berries need to be blanched in hot but not boiling water with a temperature of about 80 degrees. To do this, put a portion of grapes in a colander, immerse the berries in hot water, soak for 1-2 minutes, remove and cool immediately in cold water. Wait a while until the water drains completely, and put the berries in a bowl where the jam will be cooked. Blanch this way for the entire serving of grapes.
3. In a separate saucepan made from granulated sugar and water, taken in the proportions indicated in the recipe, boil the syrup: pour sugar into the pan, pour water into it, put the mixture on the stove and cook over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, forgetting to stir all the time.
4. Pour the blanched berries with the syrup obtained, mix everything gently and leave to insist for 8-10 hours.
5. After the specified time, pour the whole syrup into a separate container, put it on the fire (without berries), bring to a boil, pour in the berries again and leave them to infuse for 8-10 hours.
6. Next, put the container with jam on the fire, boil and cook until cooked, stirring occasionally and removing the foam. Readiness can be determined when the berries "sit" at the bottom of the pan.
7. At the very end of cooking, you can add a little vanillin, but this is at your discretion.
8. Ready jam is laid out on sterilized jars and rolled up with lids.

If the berries are cooled and laid barely warm, then it is allowed to use plastic lids for clogging, but in this case, the storage temperature of the cans should be low.

Important! When cooking sugar syrup instead of water, you can add natural freshly squeezed grape juice, then the jam will turn out to be more saturated.

Recipe number 3

Easiest recipe

For beginners of culinary art, there is a very simple recipe for making grape jam.

Ingredient Steps 3

• Isabella grapes

  1, 5 kg

• water

  350 ml

• sugar

  4, 5 glasses

1. Take 1.5 kg of fresh grapes. Peel the berries by removing the stalks and branches, rinse them well and dry them naturally, eliminating excess moisture. You can spread the grapes on the table and leave for a few minutes.
2. Pour 300 ml of water into a saucepan and pour 1.5 cups of sugar into it, put the mixture on medium heat and boil the syrup until sugar is completely dissolved. Do not forget to constantly stir the syrup so that it does not burn.
3. In boiling syrup, pour previously prepared berries and cook them for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and cool.
4. When the berries in the pan have cooled, you need to put them on low heat again, add the remaining 3 cups of sugar, bring to a boil and boil for another 30 minutes.
5. Pour hot grape jam into jars and cover with lids.

Recipe number 4

With walnuts

The use of walnuts in grape jam gives a noble spicy taste to the dessert.

Steps 5 Ingredients

• Isabella grapes

  1 kg

• sugar

  0.5 kg

• water

  1/3 cup

• walnuts

  10 pieces.

• vanillin

  optional

1. Take 1 kg of fresh grape berries, separating them from the stalks of the brush. Rinse them well several times in a large volume of water.
2. Take a pot of preferably large diameter, pour at least half of the water tank into it, set it on a fire and bring to a boil. This water will be needed to blanch the berries. Remove the pan from the heat. Take the prepared berries, put them in a colander, blanch in hot water for no more than 1-2 minutes, and then quickly cool by dipping in a bowl of cold water (you can put ice there for better cooling). Put a colander with berries to drain.
3. From the water and sugar in the proportions indicated in the recipe, boil the syrup. The readiness of the syrup is determined by the fact that sugar should dissolve in water without residue. Bring it to a boil and put in a colander. Boil the grapes in syrup over medium heat for another 5–7 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool and infuse for 8-10 hours.
5. After the specified time, put the berries on the fire again, add the peeled walnut kernels to them and, if desired, vanillin. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 15 minutes.
6. After this, the dessert is ready, it can be hot poured into cans and corked with lids for storage.

Useful Cooking Tips

All dishes have subtleties and secrets of cooking, and grape jam is no exception.

You will also be interested to learn how to make delicious jam from grape raisins.

Here are some helpful tips to help make your first experience with Isabella berries successful:

1. Always choose only fresh ripe grapes for harvesting.
2. Grape seeds are useful and do not spoil the jam, but not everyone will like to extract them from there, so for the first experiment, try to cook the jam without stones.
3. Grapes contain a large amount of liquid, which can interfere with the density of jam, so the berries are pre-blanched and quickly cooled in ice water.
4. Sugar for the preparation of syrup should choose light. Brown varieties can give a burnt flavor to the finished product.
5. To make the berries look whole and not wrinkled, they are left to mature in sugar syrup for at least 7 hours. Then, when cooking, the peel and pulp do not burst.
6. It is possible to make jam from grapes in the usual classical way, filling it with sugar first, only if the bones have been removed from the berries. This process is time-consuming, therefore it is more advisable to use the above proven recipes.
7. The jam preparation process can be slightly reduced without boiling it to a too thick consistency and thus preserving more vitamins in the finished product. It turns out almost grape syrup, which is used to soak cakes or as a spicy additive in compote.

Isabella grape jam recipes provide many options for creative cooking and future use. This variety never fails with taste, and the preservation of most healthy vitamins in a product makes jam almost indispensable.