by David Cecelski
I put up 5 quarts of muscadine grape-hull preserves yesterday. My daughter and I picked the grapes from a vine that my grandfather planted in the 1930s. I picked on the side of the arbor near the chicken coop, she picked on the side near the barn. She sang while she worked and we soon filled two big bowls with the heavy, dark grapes.
While my daughter packed for college, I washed the grapes, removed the stems, and chased off a few straggling spiders and daddy long-legs. Then I separated the hulls and the pulp. Muscadines have a thick hull, but you just pinch the grapes and the pulp and the seeds pop out. I put the hulls in one bowl, the pulp and seeds in another. It’s a tedious job, but once I found my rhythm it was as soothing as shelling butterbeans or shucking corn.
When I was done, I put the pulp and seeds in a pot and brought them to a boil. After a few minutes, I turned off the heat, let them cool for 10 or 15 minutes, then ran the pulp through a strainer to remove the seeds. I combined the hulls and pulp in a pot. I stirred in a cupful of sugar for every cup of grapes and brought that mixture to a boil. Finally, I poured the hot preserves into sterilized jars and sealed them, the muscadines, their syrup and the memory of my daughter’s singing.
I am gonna try this today, I have 5 gallon bags full of grapes.
This is very familiar to me as a Tarheel. My mother would make a dough and roll out like a small pie crust. She would put some preserves on it, fold over, crimp and seal and fry in a black cast iron griddle. My children would look for some every time we would visit. They were delicious.
Do the grapes have to be muscadines?
I made muscadine hull preserves today. I had no recipe but I’ve made them every year for several years with no problem. I don’;t understand why people process the hulls-that’s what makes them preserves. I love the texture of the hulls.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and the story to go along with it. I’m new to the south, and this is my first time processing muscadines. Now, on to muscadine hull preserves for me.
i ve made these when i can and i now have friends lined up at my door wanting a jar. a great recipeR Lockamy
I have been looking for a recipe for some time now. My grandmother made muscadine jam with candied hulls. Can you tell me if hull becomes candied when it is cooking?