Easy Homemade Muscadine Jelly or Jam Recipe
This is an easy step-by-step recipe for muscadine jelly or jam using sure jell powdered pectin or certo liquid pectin. This recipe can also be used interchangeably with scuppernongs. Cute jar label printable included!
Homemade jelly is one of life’s greatest gifts. I’m convinced of it. Even better is baking biscuits from scratch and slathering them with butter and homemade jelly on a weekend morning. Best savored with piping hot coffee and front porch views.
One of my favorite things to do in September is to make jelly. I don’t know why, but it gives me such satisfaction. And that needs to be shared! So today I’m going to walk you through making muscadine jelly. It’s pretty easy, just three main steps-making the juice, cooking the jelly, and canning. Just for fun, I’ve made these cute jar labels to share with you as a free printable. See bottom of page for printing instructions.
If you’re already a jelly making pro, here’s the recipe card. Keep scrolling for thorough details & photos if you’re the kind of person that likes those things…(I am, but not everyone does!)
Muscadine Jelly
Ingredients
To make the juice:
- 4-5 lbs muscadines or scuppernongs (about 3 quarts)
To make the jelly:
- 5 cups muscadine or scuppernong juice
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 7 cups sugar
- 1 box liquid or powdered pectin (sure jell, certo)
- 1 tsp butter
Instructions
To make the juice
- Wash the muscadines and make sure all stems are removed.
- Add to a large stock pot, along with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and allow to cook down for about 20 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash the fruits as they cook.
- Once the muscadines have softened and smushed, place them in a sieve over a large bowl to drain. Feel free to smush some more here if you don't mind that cooked pulp. If you want a super clear jelly, line the sieve with cheesecloth and let it drain through for several hours until you have a very clear juice. Toss the remainder of the hulls, seeds and pulp out to the wildlife or your compost pile.
To make the jelly using powdered pectin
- In your large stock pot, add 5 cups of juice, lemon juice, butter, and powdered pectin. Bring to a rolling boil (stirring periodically), this should only take a few minutes. After it reaches a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down,
- Add 7 cups of sugar, and return the mixture to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim the foam and ladle into jars.
To make the jelly using liquid pectin
- In your large stock pot, add 5 cups of juice, lemon juice, butter, and sugar. Bring this up to a full rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute, then add 1 pouch of certo liquid pectin. Boil for 1 minute more. Remove from heat, skim the foam and ladle into jars.
To Can:
- Sterilize jars and lids, then ladle the hot jelly into the jars. Make sure to wipe the top and rim of the jars before adding the lid. Adjust rings to finger tight. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Remove to cool. You should hear the lids sealing. Test after 24 hours. If any lids haven't sealed, refrigerate those jars and enjoy your jelly!
Notes
If you’re asking what are muscadines?
A few years ago I made scuppernong jelly and posted the picture to instagram. Someone commented that they didn’t know scuppernongs were a real thing-they just thought it was a made up word! I was surprised to find that some southerners weren’t even sure what they were.
Scuppernongs are a type of muscadine, and muscadines are a variety of grapes, native to the Southern US. Scuppernongs are the golden color fruit in the photo below, and the dark purple one we just call muscadines.
They aren’t as easy to eat as your regular store bought variety. They have thick, tough hulls and the inside pulp is filled with seeds. But boy are they delicious! They have a unique sweet and tart flavor that really shines when made into jelly. Now that we get to enjoy that wonderful flavor year round until next muscadine season.
Muscadines are in season in late summer, early fall time frame. You can find muscadines at u-pick farms, farmers markets, your local produce stand, growing wild, even at some grocery stores (I found the scuppernongs at Aldi!). Wherever you get yours from, you’re going to need to gather at least 4 to 5 pounds to make this jelly, or about 3 quarts worth.
Scuppernongs and Muscadines have slightly different flavors but you can use either one for this recipe. The dark grapes give you a beautiful dark pink jelly and scuppernongs give a golden syrup colored jelly.
Muscadine Jam or Jelly?
Jelly is made with fruit juice, while jam contains bits of fruit or pulp in it. My recipe is technically a jam, because I don’t bother with straining the juice for hours. I’m not picky about. I don’t mind a bit of pulp. Where I come from, discarding the the tiny solids that make it through the sieve would be a sin. The bits of pulp that make it through have an apple butter consistency, but aren’t very noticeable in the final product.
If you’re into things like super clear jelly, then by all means be really careful and strain the juice through cheesecloth multiple times to get a clear juice.
Ingredients you’ll need for muscadine jam or jelly
About five pounds of muscadines, sugar, lemon juice, butter, liquid certo or sure jell powdered pectin.
You’ll notice in the pics that there are a lot of muscadines in the pot. I didn’t measure how many I used for this batch. There were a lot! I knew it was more than enough for a single batch of jelly so I used the extra juice to make another half batch.
Here’s how to make Muscadine Jelly step by step
I sometimes break this down into a few days, but you can do it all in one day. I prep the juice before hand and refrigerate it until I’m ready to make the jelly. Once you’re ready to make jelly, go ahead and set up your canning stuff first because the cooking process isn’t very long.
How to make muscadine juice:
First thing is to wash your muscadines and make sure any stems are removed. Toss any that aren’t fresh and firm looking. Add the grapes to your largest pot, and add 2 cups of water. We’re going to cook these down for about 20 minutes or so. Mash the fruits down as they’re cooking to release the juices.
Add a sieve over a large bowl and let the juice drain. Discard the large solids. The more you strain, the clearer the jelly will be. If you don’t care about this and like a jammy texture, you can do like I did and only strain once. I let the tiny bits stay in.
While the juice is draining, set up two large stock pots, one for the canning and one for the jelly.
For the canning, you’ll need a rack for the jars to sit on, 8 or 9 half pint jars (this batch made 8 1/2 for me), lids, rings, jar remover tool, clean washcloth, and a lid remover tool.
To cook the jelly using sure jell powdered pectin:
Once you’ve gotten your juice separated, add 5 cups back to your large stock pot. Add lemon juice, butter, and powdered pectin.
The mixture will foam after the pectin is added. Bring this to a rolling boil (meaning that it cannot be stirred down, it continues to boil as you’re stirring). Once it’s reached a rolling boil, add the sugar all at once and stir.
Return it to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down and boil for 1 minute (left photo below). Remove from heat, skim off any foam.
How to make muscadine jelly with sure jell’s certo liquid pectin: In your large stock pot, add 5 cups of juice, lemon juice, butter, and sugar. Bring this up to a full rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute, then add 1 pouch of certo liquid pectin. Boil for 1 minute more. Remove from heat, skim the foam and ladle into jars.
To can muscadine jelly
You’ll want to work quickly here as the jelly does start to set up and you should notice that the closer you get to the bottom of the pan, the liquid is starting to harden and look like jelly!
Ladle the jelly into hot, sterilized jars. Wipe rims and sides, then add lids and rings. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. When the ten minutes are up, turn off the heat, and remove jars from the canner. Let them set up for 24 hours. You should hear the lids popping as they seal. Test the seals the following day, and any that didn’t seal, put in the fridge and use those first!
You’ll notice here that I’m just using my largest stock pot as a canner, with a metal trivet on the bottom so that the jars aren’t sitting directly on the bottom of the pan. I have to work in batches, just make sure that your water comes back to a boil before you add the second round of cans. For a more thorough detail on water bath canning, you can check out the step by step photos on my jalapeno jelly tutorial.
FAQ
How many jars does this recipe make?
This recipe makes about 8 and 1/2 half pint (8 oz. jelly) jars. For the little bit that’s left after filling the larger jars, I will typically use a small 4 oz. jar. You get to keep a jar, gift a jar, trade with another friend who also shares your jam making obsession. Share however you please, but please do keep some (several) for yourself.
Should I use liquid pectin or powdered?
I’ve tried both and for this recipe I prefer the liquid pectin but only for the reason that it makes less foaming-which results in just a bit less work for me. They both set up nicely, and the taste and texture of both batches were the same.
What does muscadine jelly taste like?
Muscadine jelly is similar to grape jelly but with it’s own flavor unique tart flavor. If you’ve never tried a muscadine before, it’s hard to explain the taste. But if you’ve had muscadines, just know that the jelly definitely tastes like muscadines.
Looking for more jelly recipes?
Try our sweet and spicy jalapeno jelly recipe next!
Free printable! Muscadine Jelly labels can be printed on sticker paper and cut out or printed on Avery’s kraft brown round gift labels
Yummy! I was able to make almost 11 1/2 pint jars with the recipe.
That’s awesome! Thank you for your comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
In your note section you said that 9 pint jars were needed and that you ended up with 8 1/2 pint jars. This was a little confusing. I used only pint jars which came out to 4 jars. I then realized that you must’ve used 1/2 pint jars which would have yielded 8 of the 1/2 pint jars.
Hi Darlene, sorry for any confusion and thanks for letting me know of the error! I had the correct info under the serving info: 8.5 half pint jars and I’ve now updated the notes section to read half pint jars.
I followed this recipe and got 8 1/2 pints.
I’m not sure if I over looked but how many cups is actually needed to make the 5 cups of juice?
Hi Amanda, you’ll need about 5 pounds of muscadines or scuppernongs to make the juice. I’ll put the info in the recipe card to make it a bit more clear. Thanks!
My sister and I agreed this recipe worked well. She has canned much more than I have but I am a go mostly by a recipe person and she just goes with the force. We put up 2 batches and I will finish another batch tomorrow by myself. They’re so pretty and good!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed the recipe! Happy canning!
Hi there, first time making any kind of jam. I started with 5lb of muscadines, followed instructions, but ended up with a little under 3.5 cups of juice. It’s still straining, but I don’t think it’ll make it up to 5 cups. Where do you think I went wrong? Should I just save the juice and boil down more muscadines to make more and reach the 5 cup measurements?
I’m not sure why you didn’t end up with 5 cups of juice. I do tend to smash the grapes as much as I can while they’re boiling, and then while straining, I will press it with the back of a spoon to make sure I get all the juice I can get out of it. You can either get more muscadines and boil those down to get enough for the full batch of jelly, or you could try making a half batch too. Sometimes I have a few cups of juice leftover, and I’ve made half batches and just adjust the ingredients.
I had the same issue and realized that I strained my boiled muscadines before mashing! I think if I had mashed them in the 2 to 3 cups of boiling water it would have come out right. I ended up adding the water back to my strained muscadine only juice…mine tastes super sweet, so my adjust sugar a little next time…yummy though
In the one box of liquid fruit pectin if there is 2 packs in the box do I use 1 pack or 2
Hi, you’ll only need 1 packet of the liquid pectin.
Hi Katie
I used one packet per 5 cups per your recipe. The jelly never set. I poured out, boiled & I had to reprocess & for 10 cups used a total of 5 packets of Certo liquid pectin
I re-canned and the jelly came out a perfect consistency & delicious!
Hi Martha, thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you. I am sorry to hear your first batch didn’t set. I’ve not had that experience in all the times that I’ve made this jelly. Glad to hear you were able to get it the next go around though!
What happens if the juice does not jell, can it be fixed
I’ve not yet had a batch that hasn’t jelled, but it can be fixed. Here’s a link to sure-jell’s directions for remaking jelly. Hope it works for you! https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/108046/surejell-cooked-jam-or-jelly-remake-directions
If my jelly seems to sweet, can I cut down on the sugar a little without compromising recipe?
I wouldn’t try reducing the sugar unless you’re also using a low/no sugar pectin product. The one that I use in this recipe needs the full amount of sugar in order to set correctly. You could try with the Sure Jell less or no sugar pectin, or Pomona’s Universal Pectin.
I’d like to use the low sugar Sure Gel. Is this going to mess up the recipe?How many cups of sugar should I use?
Thanks!
Hi Lisa, I personally haven’t used a low/no sugar pectin so I can’t give advice on how much sugar to use. There is usually an insert included in boxes of pectin and I’d look and see if it has a recommendation for how much sugar to use. A grape jelly recipe would be very similar to muscadine jelly, so I would check that for a reference.
I use the pulp to make an Amazing cobbler!
That sounds great! I’ll have to give it a try!
This is my first time making muscadine jelly with the liquid pectin and I used this recipe. The jelly turned out perfect! I ended up with 8 pint jars and 4 half pint jars. I had to try one of the half pints to taste and my husband, my daughter and I were very pleased. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Making your jelly recipe and canning how far up the jars when doing the water bath?
Hi Margaret, the water should cover the jars by at least an inch during the water bath.
Thank you jelly turned out great
Awesome! So glad to hear it!
Hi, if I don’t need this much jelly and would like to halve the recipe should I halve the liquid pectin as well or keep that the same?
Hi, you can halve the liquid pectin if you’re doing a half batch.
Great recipe! Thank you! The recipe made 8.5 half-pints of muscadine jelly.
With powdered Sure-Jell, I omitted the lemon juice (with Ball pectin, I would need it). I mixed 2-3 teaspoons sugar in the powdered pectin before adding it to the juice (it disperses better) and used just 1/2 teaspoon of butter to control foaming. I made no other changes. Thanks again for a great recipe.
Hi Susan, thanks for trying the recipe! So glad to hear it worked out for you. Thank you as well for the tips!
My 83 year old mother has made muscadine jelly since her early years but I’ve never tried to make it until yesterday. I saw your recipe and wanted to give it a try. My first time making jelly of any type and I’m happy to say it came out fantastic!!! In fact, both my mom and dad enjoyed the flavor more than what mom has made for years. We think the difference is she covers the muscadines with water and I only used two cups per your very detailed directions. The juice comes out with so much flavor. I’m making two more batches today. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
This make me so happy to hear, Lisa! I’m thrilled the jelly turned out great for you! Thank you for trying the recipe and sharing your experience. Happy canning!
what verity of Muscadine do you use, and what is the best verity to use for jelly, I am going to put some vines at the edge of my garden and need to know the best ones to start with
Hi Steve, here we mostly use wild grown muscadines, and the ones I’ve purchased from a farmer’s market don’t list a variety. I would ask around at markets in your area or your state’s extension website to see which variety grows best in your location. Good luck!