Grape Jam

What a delight to find an actual "crop" in your backyard. The grape vine I planted several years ago was actually producing grapes this year, but I had no idea how may clusters were hidden from view. The cultivar was called Perlette, but does not match the Internet description at all, although it does match the description on the tag, "black, seedless, dessert grapes". I secretly long to discover that they were mislabeled and are zinfandel or syrah, as they have a spicy characteristic and seem small for table grapes.

Ingredients:

8C black seedless grapes

6C sugar

3T lemon juice

1 pkg pectin

Directions:

Place the grapes and lemon juice in a nonreactive pot over medium heat until the grapes start to break apart and release their juice, then add sugar and stir.

When the sugar dissolves, increase the heat until you have a rolling boil. If you're using a candy thermometer, the setting point for grape jam is 221 degrees. Because I wasn't sure this would work and because I have had jam setting problems recently, I insured a good set by adding a package of pectin.

This recipe makes 4 1/2 pints of jam.