Muscadine Cordial Recipe

In days gone by, Joe Greene, planted a mini vineyard on Greene Gate farm with six varieties of muscadine and scuppernongs. With love and careful pruning, along with composted manure from Stevie’s cows, his vines hung thick over the cables strung between the sturdy posts. We would head to the family farm each year to pick gallons of these giant clusters. 

I discovered a recipe from a Southern cookbook, switched it up a bit to suit our taste buds. It created liquid of ruby red of non-alcoholic cordial with giant Black Beauty muscadines straight off the vines at Greene Gate Farm. 

 MUSCADINE CORDIAL

1. Use clean sterilized quart mason jars with new lids. The outer ring can be re-used from year to year.
2. Stuff the jar 3/4 full of muscadines that have been rinsed. I also pluck off the stems during the rinsing process.
3. Boil a large kettle of water.
4. Add 1/3—1/2 C. organic cane sugar crystals to each quart jar. I use a wide mouth canning funnel to keep any sugar crystals from spilling onto the jar rim, which would prevent a tight seal, if not wiped clean.
5. Next, add 1/2 C. organic apple cider vinegar to each jar.
6. Finish filling up each jar with the boiling water, leaving 1” headspace. That means don’t fill it to the very tippy-top!
7. Wipe the rims with a clean cloth and add a new lid and adjust the outer ring with a firm twist.
8. Process your jars in the water bath canning method for 10 minutes.
9. The juice will be aged and ready to drink in about 3 weeks. Believe me...it’s worth the wait!
10. I save it for a special treat and serve it in a miniature juice goblet.

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