The seeds might clog up the Foley Food Mill, I would cook them, put cheese cloth in the cone strainer and use the wooden pestle and get the juice out that way. It has been a very long time since I have made grape juice. My Mother used to can grape juice and in time make some of it into jelly.

Sue

My experience is juice rather than jam, but but it's basically the same for straining. If a Turk's cap is the same thing as a chinois, it should be fine enough mesh to get out the seeds, but if you're worried, why not mash up a few grapes and do a test?

I don't know if this would work for grapes--maybe if you cut them--but my raspberry jam recipe had the berries sit overnight in the sugar until the whole thing was a syrupy goo, and then strain it before cooking. If you did that, it might loosen the seeds and the skins and make it easier to strain.

Thanks....this is what i have.....guess I better examine the grape seeds and the holes in the strainer....then decide of I need to line it with cloth.

My mom always made grape jam which had the peels in it -- I've never seen anything else like it -- no seeds but skins and I don't know what she did. I LONG for that jam! Won't eat any other kind of Concord jelly because I was spoiled with that one.

Eww....don't don't tell me she seeded each grape!!

I just dug out my "squisher"....and I think the holes are small enough to contain the grape seeds....

I be jammin!!

my mother used to squeeze grapes to get skin off, then heated the fruit to about 125 degrees. took the fruit and ran it through chinois to get rid of the seeds

she then added the skins back to the strained fruit. I recall that sometimes she chopped the skins other times they went in whole.

Cooked it for what seemed to be forever and then into jars with paraffin. seal. we got what didnt fill jar on bread

I have concord grapes that are seedless, so maybe Martha's Mom had access to the same kind.

I do just cook the grapes a little and mash them through a sieve and make grape jam with the resulting mush. I've made jelly but it's time consuming and we just like the jam better. I've also taken the grapes, cooked them with a little water for about 10 minutes, gave 'em a whizz in the food processor and then strained out the seeds and peels and any little residual stems, cooked with sugar and made jam.

My grapes aren't even close to being ripe, so I'll just keep waiting.....

Annie

I cooked them a little and put them through the turks cap thing with the wooden pusher....measured the resulting mush....added an equal quantity of sugar....cooked until it sheeted off the spoon.....and poof!! jelly!

Yup, just like that! Mmmmm, sounds yummy.

Annie

I've never made grape jelly but I've done it with many other fruits. It isn't any effort to strain the cooked fruit for the juice. I don't own a jelly stand so I do what my mother did. Turn a wooden stool upside down and tack the four corners of the cloth to the bottoms of the feet. I place a bowl on the upturned seat. Or I gather the four corners and hang them from a door handle. Then I go to bed. Next day the juice is thoroughly strained. I don't exert pressure because with some juices that makes them cloudy. Gravity does all the work. This is for making jelly which only uses juice. Jam includes the fruit and I either live with the pips or make jelly. Life is too short to push things through seives.

floral, ^^^ that brought back memories of my mother making grape jelly! I remember the huge cheesecloth "bag" suspended from the broom handle over the biggest mixing bowl...

I used to do the jelly bag with grape jelly....but this pushing it through the turk's cap with the wooden smoosher was quicker and much easier than the jelly bag drop. The resulting product is not crystal clear like dripped jelly, but its delicious....and soooo easy! Would make more fi i had more grapes.

Concord has tough skin and lots of big seeds. I cook my fruit as directed for the recipe, let cool and pour into my jelly bag (tip from my grandmother: buy a cheap pillowcase and use that. Save just for jelly making). I twist the pillowcase shut and put into my large metal colander that sits on top of my large kettle. First I mash the fruit in pillowcase with hand potato masher. Then when a lot of the juice is drained out, I can squeeze the pillowcase with my hands to wring out every last drop. You will be amazed at how much juice you get!

I dump out the skins/seeds into the compost pile and then use my spatula to clean out the remaining pulp in the pillowcase. Wash it asap with bleach in the wash machine and it is good to use the next time!

Jelly strainers are expensive. Sometime's Grandmother's ideas work best and cheaper too!

The alternative straining ideas are fun to hear about even if I never try most of them. Thanks for sharing them!

spartanapples, I also use a pillowcase when making jelly, I just put my big stockpot on the floor, put the pillow case inside it, pour in the cooked/mashed fruit. Tie it closed with a piece of clothesline and hang it from the back of the chair or from a broomstick that is placed on the backs/rungs of two chairs. I let it sit for several hours, or overnight, and in the morning the juice has all drained and I'm ready to make jelly.

However, I also make jam like LindaC just did, mash the pulp through a sieve or chinois, making sure to strain out seeds and skins, cook it until it's jam. It contains all that lovely fruit pulp, although it's not clear like jelly is.

Annie

When I drip....which I may never do again now that I know how easy and good "squishing is"..I use one of those flour sack dish towels. Like Annie I put it in a big pot pour in the fruit and tie the corners up and hang it from a broom stick propped over 2 cupboard door opened.

Ha, you are are making me remember my grandmother suspending her jelly bag from a knob on a cabinet. I once suspended my sheets of fruit-filled cheese cloth from a camera tripod.