Muscadine juice

[George Shirley]

We've been offered picking rights on a friends muscadines and
scuppernongs. Probably will go tomorrow if the rains don't come back.

My question is simple, I'm really not in the mood for making jelly at
the moment and am wondering if I can just get the juice out of them and
then freeze it for later use? Any responses?

[zxcvbob]

Yes, that works pretty well. I have a couple of quarts of peach juice
in my freezer from last year.

bob

[Gloria P]

I don't see why it shouldn't work. A mutual friend of ours often uses
frozen fruit or juice for jelly or jam.

If yo u decide you don't want all that jelly, you can always thaw and
drink the juice. (I guess for you that means unsweetened?)

I am waiting to see whether the raccoons or I will get our Concord
grapes first when they finally ripen.

gloria p

[George Shirley]

I've read about folks freezing juice for later use but have never tried
it myself. Dependent upon how good the crop is I may start a batch of
dry wine too.

Thanks to all for their answers.

[Mimi]

Hi George,

You don't even have to do the juicing right now if you don't want to.
I've actually frozen the grapes whole and then later juiced them and
made them into jelly. It worked beautifully. I've done the same with
the wild mustang grapes--same result. Here is an abstract from an
article that further explains that freezing the grapes whole for use
later actually increases yield of juice and color:

Juice Quality from Whole Muscadine Grapes Held in Frozen Storage
L. F. Flora 1

1 Department of Food Science, University of Georgia College of
Agriculture Experiment Stations, Georgia Station, Experiment, Georgia
30212.

"Juices were pressed from heated and unheated whole black (`Hunt') and
bronze muscadine grapes that had been held at -28 C for 9 months.
Quality factors of the juices were measured, and the juices were
submitted to panelists for acceptance ratings. Freezing apparently
increases juice yield and pigment content of the juices. The flavor
and color of the juices from frozen stored grapes were acceptable,
with no indications of off-flavors or excessive browning. Results
indicate that whole muscadines may be frozen for later processing into
juice, jelly, preserves, wine, and other products."

Accepted on March 11, 1976

I didn't download the entire article--it is a pay-to-play site but,
the above is enough for me to confirm my own findings.

Hope this helps.

: - )

[George Shirley]

It certainly makes it easier to do anyway.

All I have to do now is to wait for the rain to quit. Weather geeks say
it will be raining at least through next Wednesday.