Homemade Grape Mermelade / Domaća marmelada od grožđa

Natural, homemade, sugarfree grape mermelade

Otkad znam za sebe, znam i za grožđe, vinograde, pravljenje vina. Vino baš i ne pijem (svi se čudom čude), ali zato volim grožđe. I ono stolno, ali pogotovo grožđe iz vinograda; crno, bijelo ili mareštinu, svejedno.

Prije par godina sam se odvažila od najobičnijeg crnog grožđa iz vinograda (sorta Babić i Plavina, dakle, ništa fensi) napraviti marmeladu. Prvo sam prelistala sve kuharice koje sam imala (ništa), pa magazine o spremanju zimnice i o pravljenju džemova (tu sam naišla na recepte u kojima je grožđe bilo samo dodatak), pa sam prosurfala internetom - i gle iznenađenja -  opet ništa posebno. Pročitala sam recepte u kojima ima masu šećera, sredstva za želiranje i sl, pa onda preporuke kako je grožđe prevodenasto da bi se moglo ukuhati, pa smetaju sjemenke itd. Pa sam pitala starije (iskusnije) dame - "Ne može se, nisam čula, ne radimo mi to..."

Since I remember, I know of grapes, vineyard, winemaking. I don't drink wine at all, but I love eating grapes, expecially the vineyard sortes; black, white, rose, whatever.
A couple of years back I decided to make some mermelade out of black grapes from our vineyard. First I checked out all of my cook books ( found nothing much), then some magazines about homemaking (I found some recepies where grapes were only one of the indgrediens), so I surfed the net and - surprise- nothing special found. I did find some recepies that demand tons of sugar, some additives, I found some topics on forums that said grapes are to liquid to cook into certian density, then it have seeds etc. So, I asked some of older (more experienced) ladies - "No, can't be done, never heard of it, we don't make that... "

Onda sam odlučila probati napraviti marmeladu na način sličan pravljenju vina:
1) zdrobiti bobice - zbog pigmenta antocijana - nalazi se obično samo u kožici i odgovoran je za boju vina kod crnih sorata vinove loze, zato se kod pravljenja vina bobice melju, jak je oksidans.
2) maknuti sjemenke - kad se vino radi potrebno je maknuti sve petaljke, lišće, sjemenke i slične nečistoće da se ne dobije opori okus zbog prisutnih fenola koji se u njima nalazi.
3) NE dodati šećera - grožđe sadrži oko 12 do 28% šećera, odnosno glukoze i fruktoze. Ako u moštu ima dovoljno prirodnog šećera, ne dodajemo onaj bijeli, kupovni, da bi dobili kvalitetno vino, pa ne treba dodati ni marmeladi.
4) kuhati koliko je potrebno. I vino "kuha" i to danima, pa može i marmelada.

Then I decided to make mermelade in such way like making wine:
1) mashed the berries - because of pigment anthocyanins - it is found in skin, mostly, and is responsable for wine color, that's why berries are mashed, it is very strong antioxidant, as well.
2) get rid of seeds - in winemaking process you have to remove all pedicles, seeds, leaves and such becouse they contain phenols and give tart taste to wine.
3) NOT to add sugar - grapes containes 12 to 28% glucose and fructose. If there is enough of natural sugar in the grape must, we don't add any sugar, so why would I add some sugar in mermelade?
4) cook as much as needed. Wine "cooks" also for days, so can my mermelade for an hour.

Potrebno je par kilograma grožđa; bobica opranih i odvojenih od peteljke (staguca, kažemo mi).

You will need some grapes; berries taken off pedicle and rinsed in water. 

Volim tu činjenicu da se ništa ne treba vagati, stavi se grožđa koliko se ima!

I  looove the fact that you don't have to measure anything, just use as much as you have!

Nakon nekog vremena, kuhajući se, izlazi sok iz bobica. Kuhamo još barem pola sata, da bobice malo omekšaju. Neke sam i zdrobila miješajući  kuhačom, to je naročito dobro jer sok dobiva tamniju boju i aromu.

After a while, while cooking on a stove, a juice comes out berries. Let it cook for at least half an hour more, so berries soften up some more. Some of them will get crushed while stirring; that is actually good, the juice gets more darker color and more flavor.

Uzela sam pasirku i propasirala bobice, malo po malo...

I took the food mill and I mashed the berries, little by little...

...dok nije u pasirki ostalo samo sjemenje i kožica.

 Poslije sam pročitala kako u kožici ima celuloze i pektina, dakle marmelada se može sgusnuti i bez dodavanja želina. (Pročitala sam i  kako se od sjemenki radi vrlo ukusno ulje koje se upotrebljava kako u kuhinji, tako i u kozmetici.)

...untill all was left in the mill was berries' seeds and skin.

Later on, I have read that there are cellulose and pectin in grapes' skin, so this mermelade can get dense without any additives. (Also, I have read that people make very tasteful oil out of grapes' seeds that is used both in kitchen and in cosmetics.)

Sok se iscjedio, naravno, a sa donje strane pasirke je ostalo još gušćeg materijala kojeg sam sastrugala ovom strugalicom za kolače.

The juice was drained, of course, but there a lot of denser material left behind. I scraped it off, too. 

I tako sam dobila ovu veliku teču punu ne-baš-rijetke smjese i manju teču otpada.

A što se otpada tiče, jeste li znali da od ukupne mase grozda, na sjemenke otpada 4%, a na kožicu 10-20%, ovisno o sorti? Ja nisam . Do tada.

And so I got this bigger pot of not-so-liquid mixture and this smaller pot of waste.

Did you know, that out of the total mass of the  grape cluster, the seed accounts for 4%, and  skin around 10-20%, depending on sort? I didn't. Untill then.

Veća teča se je vratila na laganu vatru i kuhalo se sve dok nije smjesa počela špricati. To mi je znak da se kuhanje marmelade blizi kraju. Još se napravi mali test sa hladnim tanjurićem i kad se smjesa ne prelijeva previše, to je to.

I returned this bigger pot to the stove (low heat) and cooked the mermelade some more, untill it began to spurt. I find that as a warning that mermalade making is at the end. I had checked its density by placing a small amount of mermalade on a cold plate and when it didn't spill too much, I poured the mermelade into glass jars. 

 I evo moje mermelade bez šećera, bez želiranja, krasne boje i okusa. Dakle, može se.

And there is my mermelade with no sugar added, no additives whatsoever. So, it can be done. 

Istina, izgubi se malo vremena, ali nije mi žao jer je moja djeca vole jesti, a ja znam da ovo ne može biti loše. Ima još jedna stvar koja mi se kod ove marmelade posebno sviđa; nakon nekog vremena se dio grožđenog šećera iskristalizira, tako da pucka pod zubima! A postoji i lošija strana, a to je da ova marmelada ovisi isključivo o kvaliteti grožđa, pošto nije dodano ništa drugo što bi moglo eventualno popraviti okus, važno je da grožđe bude zdravo, slatko i naravno, ukusno.

It is true that making this mermelade is time-consuming, but since my kids loove to eat it and I just know that it can't be bad for them, I don't mind! There is something more that I like about this mermelade; after a while, some of the grape sugars crystallize so they crunch under teeth! But, there is a bad side, too - since there is no sugar or anything else added that could effect its flavor and taste, it is very important that grapes used for this mermelade should be the best quality; sweet, healthy and tasteful.

Probala sam napraviti i od bijelog grožđa, ali mi se boja nije baš dojmila. Okus nije bio loš.

I još jednom napominjem da je ovo crno grožđe iz vinograda, a ne stolno.

I tried to make some mermelade out of white grapes, it was tasteful but I didn't like its color.

And, I will say once more; these grapes that I use are grapes from vineyard, not the kind you buy in supermarkets (that kind is for eating, not wine-making, berries are bigger and are not so sweet).

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I da podjelimo još par saznanja o grožđu:

detoksificira i čisti organizam te potiče mršavljenje,

smanjuje rizik od bolesti srca i raka,

grožđe je izvor vitamina A, B, B6 i folne kiseline...

 Let's share some more info about the grapes:

detoxifies and purifies the body and promotes weight loss,

reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer,

grapes are a source of vitamins A, B, B6 and folic acid ...

I da je barem nešto od ovoga ostalo u marmeladi, ja sam zadovoljna! Što mislite?

And if some of that remained in this mermalade, I am  fully satisfied! What do you think of it?

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