Spiced Grapes

Ingredients

• full-ripe grapes
• equal weight to grapes sugar
• to taste cloves
• to taste allspice
• to taste mace
• to taste cinnamon

Instructions

1. Wash and drain sound full-ripe grapes. Pick them from the stems, then pop out the grapes singly from the hulls, saving both the hulls and the juice.
2. Put the grape pulp and seeds over the fire and cook until soft. Strain through a colander to remove the seeds, then add the strained pulp back to the hulls and juice.
3. Add an equal weight of sugar and spices to taste (the author prefers cloves, allspice, mace, and cinnamon, all pounded small but not powdered). Return all to the fire and cook until thick, taking care not to burn. Put into glasses like jelly and serve with any sort of meat, or as a sweet.
4. For wild grapes: wash, pick from stems, stew, and pass through a colander to obtain pulp. Cook as directed for vineyard grapes. For a piquant jelly or fruit cheese, reduce spices significantly and add a cupful of vinegar to each quart of syrup.