Following the Ruhls: Muscadine Jelly

So there are these AMAZING watermelons for sale at little roadside booths. The melons are from Cave City, AR and they are the best that we have ever tasted. The huge melons are sweet, crisp, and juicy. They are so fragrant that I can smell it from the other side of the house when Patrick starts to cut one up. These melons are heavenly. But I digress... this post is supposed to be about muscadine jelly! Ok, so I was at the little Cave City stand buying a watermelon and I began to eye some of the other produce that was for sale. I picked up some cherry tomatoes and noticed some little purple tomatoes right next to them. Assuming they were those fancy heirloom tomatoes, I told the cashier to bag me up some of those too. With a grin she told me those those were actually muscadines (muhs-cuh-dine), a sort of wild grape. Oh! A new fruit that we have never tried! Since we are trying to be Southerners now, I figured we must try them!

I brought them home and did a little research. Apparently not too many people just eat them, most people make jelly or pies with them. Pie did sound delicious, but I don't have that kind of time right now. I planned to make a jelly and bought some pectin. Then they sat in the fridge for a week or so. Does stuff like that ever happen to anyone else?

My awesome hubs and sweet MIL helped make the jelly one night when Dean went to bed. Patrick was worried they would go bad before I could get a chance to finish my project. He cut them and began to boil them while I fed Silas. Gail helped. I helped from the couch. Patrick was so happy to have his wife AND mom telling him what to do. Haha!! He did finish it (he threatened to quit a few times) and there was enough for 2 jars. It was a great mix of tart and sweet with a deep aged grape flavor, almost like wine. I don't know enough about wine to tell you what type! I also don't have a recipe to share since all three of us were looking at different ones on our phones. You will have to google/Pinterest it yourself if you ever decide to try it!