Grape squash is my treat for you today, I know most of you spend a lot of money on store-brought juices, squashes....kids love them and you just cannot say no right?? So today I am going to share my favorite squash; homemade grape squash-without any preservatives like sodium benzoate or color or even tonovin otherwise known as grape essence....
No artificial color,
No essence,
No preservatives,
No citric acid...
You might wonder how the juice got this much color without any artificial coloring right??? It is because there are different types of grapes; like as in, black grapes; there are sour ones, lighter color ones, sweeter ones, darker ones, seedless ones, and green ones. Not all grapes are suitable for squash, you have to ask the fruit vendor for the grapes which is specially used to make squashes or choose the sweeter and darker ones.
I hope you got a closer look at the grapes that I used to make this squash....darker ones. Here in Calicut you just have to ask the fruit vendor to give "squash walla grapes" and bingo! he weighs it and packs it in a flash.
So, now you might be wondering how I will preserve the juice without preservatives like sodium benzoate....the trick my mom used to do for that is; once the squash has come to room temperature, pour it in a steel tumbler or even good quality plastic container and put it in the freezer....all you have to do when you feel like having one is take 2 scoops of the frozen juice add little water and mix until there are no frozen lumps, then add the remaining water to make the juice....ta da
If you keep the squash in the fridge it will ferment in 2 or 3 days and you will have to throw it away or else you will have to add 1 tsp of sodium benzoate ouch! I hate to pump up my kids with preservatives and I know you also want it to be free of all the artificial colours, flavors, and preservatives.
I promise you that this is so easy to make that you will start loving me even more :) as always I believe in easy cooking and cooking is easy.
So lets begin,
Author: Nisa Homey.
Ingredients:
Grapes: 1 kg
Sugar: 1 to 1-1/2 cups, remember the grapes are sweeter, you can also increase later if you would like to.
Lemon: 1.
Water: About 1 1/2 cup.
Method
Wash and clean the grapes and remove them from the stem, put it in a vessel preferably steel and pour water into it and add the sugar.
Bring it to a boil.....careful it will spill over!! Simmer the fire and let it stay on low flame for 20-25 min and in between stir it with a spoon....you can see the color beginning to change to red.
Switch off the fire after about 25 min, the syrup will be a little thick and see the color of the juice...You need to let the juice cool down....you can also check the sugar, if you feel like you need to add a bit more you can about half a cup at this stage and just do not forget to stir with a spoon.
Once it is cool down put it in a blender, and pulse 1 or 2 times, the reason I am stressing on 1 or 2 times is we do not want the seeds to be grinded coz they will give out a sour taste....so remember just a pulse or two or three at the most.
After the pulse.....
Pour it into a sieve and press with a spoon....discard the skin and seeds......you will get this nice dark ruby colored syrup or squash. Now add in the juice of 1 lemon and mix well. Store in the freezer, and use as needed.
Pour little squash into a glass and add chilled water......Enjoy your homemade squash!!
Notes: You can add 2 tsp of tonovin (grape essence) if you feel that the flavor is less, but I did not use it.
If you like to store the juice at room temperature then you will need to add 1 tsp of sodium benzoate.
If you do not like to use lemon or is allergic to it you can add citric acid about 1 tsp.
"I have a good news to announce, some of you might have noticed a change in my url, yes I have my own domain now; www.nisahomey.com
thank you Prathima, Dassana, Radhika, and all the other friends and well wishers who helped me to make this happen."
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