Method:

Wash black grapes changing water for two to three times. Cut black grapes into 4 pieces each. Add chopped black grapes into a mixie jar and grind till smooth. Take a bowl and place a large hold sieve in it. Add the ground grapes to the sieve and with the back of a ladle rub and separate the skin of the grapes. Measure the obtained grape juice--here it came to 735gms (3Cups+1/3Cup).

Black Grape Juice – 735gms (3Cups+1/3Cup)

Sugar – 225gms (1Cup)

Take a wide and deep pan and add the sugar and grape juice. Heat the pan and cook the mixture on high flame. After some time observe that the mixture starts boiling ---from this stage keep stirring or else it would boil over. Keep stirring the mixture and cook for 20 minutes or till the mixture starts thickening---it should start forming thread (say beginning of half thread consistency!!!). Switch off the flame and observe that the mixture looks runny---on cooling the marmalade thickens. Transfer the prepared black grapes marmalade into a clean jar and allow it to cool completely. On cooling the marmalade thickens to spreadable consistency. Use as a spread on toasts or use in making black currant ice cream!!!

Points To Observe:

Select good quality grapes. The stalks of grapes should be in green color and the grapes should be sufficiently big in size. Such grapes have lot of meat (KANDA IN TELUGU) in them.

Amount of sugar is to be used depending on the sweetness of the fruit.

Grind grapes and strain through a large holed strainer and remove the skin. If marmalade is made for spreading on toasts, the straining process may be avoided. But when marmalade is used in making ice cream, the skin of the black grapes is to be removed by straining as it hampers the taste of the ice cream.

After grinding and straining the grapes observe that we get grape juice but not grape pulp. When we eat these grapes they appear pulpy but when ground they appear juicy.

It is very important to take a wide mouthed pan and also a deep pan as there is lot of moisture content in the mixture, it starts boiling vigorously. To prevent the mixture from boiling over, keep stirring continuously once the mixture starts boiling. But keep a close watch and do not cook till marmalade thickens in the pan---in such case, after cooling the marmalade would not come out of the pan!!!! So be careful while cooking the mixture. When the mixture starts thickening observe the texture like this----take few drops of the mixture in a plate and check the consistency by spreading the mixture between thumb and index finger---it need not form any thread, but it should REACH the stage of thread consistency--- say beginning of half thread consistency!!! Remember not to cook after this stage anymore.  Immediately after this stage switch off the flame and transfer the runny mixture into a clean bowl. Allow it to cool and observe how thick the marmalade would be. Cooking to this level is the most important part while making the marmalade---if cooked for longer than this stage it thickens in the pan itself and would be difficult to manage it later.

Enjoy as a spread or use in ice creams or mix with hung curd and make a flavorful dessert.

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