in late september or early october, after a frost, the grapes are ready to be picked. the frost maximizes the sugar content. we used to buy a bushel every fall and use the finnish steam juice extractor Mehu-Liisa steam juicers from Finland to reduce the fruit to clear juice. most of the juice went into jelly, clear and beautiful.

driving along lake erie on the way to salmon fishing during the same season the smell of ripe grapes permeates the air, it’s one of my favorite fragrances. i remember telling a co-worker this in the early 80’s and her comment was that she went to college nearby in fredonia and not only was welch’s grape juice located nearby, but so was a ketchup plant and similarly you could smell the ketchup when the tomatoes came in.