Actually, it's not all bad. For me, making the juice was the worst part because I had to pick the grapes, pull them off the stems, sort them and clean them. If you did it with store bought grapes it wouldn't be nearly as bad.
The recipe I use calls for making the juice by boiling 3 1/2 lbs of grapes (slightly mashed up) and 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil, cover it, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Then you strain the grapes.....I have a cone shaped colander that I line with a flour sack towel. The colander came with a wood pestal that I use to press the juice out. I did the juice and jelly on seperate days so I put the juice in clean milk jugs and once it cooled, stuck it in the frig.
For the jelly you use 5 cups of juice and stir in a box of pectin (stirring constantly). (I use Sure Jell in the yellow box....it's about the same size as a jello box or small pudding box). Bring it to a boil and quickly stir in 7 cups of sugar (yes, seven). Bring it to a boil again and boil for 1 minute.
Meanwhile, you simmer your clean jars in a water bath and have your lids in a smaller pan also simmering in hot water.
Once you've boiled the jelly mixture, quickly skim the foam off the top, fill your jars (I do them one at a time), put a lid on and a ring. Make sure you wipe any drips off the jar before putting the lids and rings on. I set them on the table on top of a towel to cool and as they cool they will seal. The actual recipe calls for you to process the filled jars in a water bath but I never do it. I think it's just an extra precaution to make sure the jars seal. If the area where the jars are cooling is drafty, I will cover the jars with a towel and then the next day when they are completely cool, put them in a dark, cool place.
**I used the 8 oz jars and one batch of juice/jelly gives me about 9 or 10 jars.
