Easy Homemade Muscadine Syrup

Last fall, we visited the state farmer’s market at the perfect time. It was Muscadine season and they were at the top of our list of items to buy. We love eating them but we enjoy them more throughout the year as jelly. While making the jelly, I knew I wanted to do something just a little different with some of the juice. While looking through my mom’s older edition Ball Bluebook, I came across blueberry syrup so I knew I wanted to make muscadine syrup with them.

Easy Homemade Muscadine Syrup

Since muscadines are wild grapes, I searched online for a grape syrup recipe. Every recipe had something different going on – from no sugar to what seemed like a lot (4 cups) and of course, there were several that had corn syrup (really?). After spending a few minutes, I decided to tweak the blueberry syrup recipe the  Ball Bluebook.

Since this was the first time making muscadine syrup, I didn’t know what to expect. But I knew if it tasted anything like my Muscadine jelly I would not be disappointed. It's out of this world, by the way. I made enough for 4 pint jars; the recipe would be very easy to double, triple, or even reduce.

Like I said in the Muscadine Jelly post. A juicer is your friend, if you don’t have one, you should get one for making jelly and other yummies. I have this one, a Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juicer.

If you are not making enough syrup to can, place it in the refrigerator. Honestly, I don’t know how long you should store it. I'm a rebel, I have a jar in the refrigerator that has started crystalizing. Because of that, I heat it up in a warm water bath to pour it.

As long as there is no mold or crazy, scary smell coming from the jar, we keep it until it’s gone.

Muscadine Syrup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Muscadine juice
• 2 ¾ cups sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

Wash and sterilize jars. Wash lids and bands and place them in warm water.

Measure out the sugar and set aside.

If you have a juicer skip down to the step where you add the sugar to the juice.

To prepare the juice: wash and pull off the stems. Place in a large pot and crush the grapes and add 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the contents of the pot through a jelly bag or cheesecloth. Allow the juice to drain.

When all the juice has been strained for any pulp or seeds, measure the exact amount of juice into a 6 – 8 quart pot. (Be sure your pot is large enough to handle the boiling liquid.)

To make the syrup. Stir in sugar. Bring to a low simmering boil and simmer until the juice coats the spoon, about 10-15 minutes. To do this, dip a cool metal spoon into the mixture and remove allowing the juice to drip from the spoon. The back of the spoon should have a coating of syrup. Remove from heat.

Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within ¼ inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Place lid and band onto the jar and tighten. Waterbath can for about 10 minutes. You can see the water bath canning details in the muscadine jelly post.

If you're only making a one or two jar batch, just place them in the refrigerator.  Just a reminder, this is not a thick syrup like a corn syrup based syrup recipe.

Every time I see the picture, I laugh. I don't own a waffle maker; it used to be on my list of kitchen tools to buy. I never bought one. Now days, I stay away from a lot of bread items.  I never liked frozen waffles, but I knew I wanted waffles for this picture. My sweet husband bought a box of waffles just so I could have the syrup fill the little squares. He's the BEST!