Grape preserve

Take care that the grapes are only just ripe or slightly under-ripe. Discard any grapes that are starting to brown. News.Az is grateful to Gullu Cahangir for allowing us to use her grape preserve recipe and photograph, taken from her informative website Azerifood.com.

Preparation time: 2 days
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

• 1 kg/2.2 lbs grapes
• 1 kg/2.2 lbs sugar (reduce the amount of sugar for a less sweet preserve, but beware that the preserve won’t keep as long)
• 1 glass of water

Preparation

• Pick the grapes from the stalks. Wash thoroughly and put in a jam pan or large saucepan.
• Sprinkle the sugar over the grapes and leave for 8-9 hours or overnight.
• Add the glass of water to the grapes. Bring the grapes to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the flame and leave to cool.
• Return to the heat, bring back to the boil and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Repeat the procedure once more, bringing the fruit to the boil 3 times in all.
• By the end of the cooking process, the grapes should be the colour of amber and the jam the consistency of honey. The grapes should retain their shape.
• Place the preserves into sterilized jars and seal.