It’s been a great year for many fruits, and grapes seem to be no exception. I’m lucky enough to have a grapevine in my garden which I inherited, and it produces sweet red grapes. These are good enough to eat as they are (and the hornets certainly seem to be enjoying them!) but we could never get through that many, so I make grape juice. I freeze most of this, it makes the most wonderful winter pick-me-up and it packed full of Vitamin C as well as antioxidants and plant polyphenols, a real antidote to colds, flu and general malaise!

A couple of people have asked me for the method and recipe, so here it is. The ingredients are very simple: you just need grapes! No extra sugar required, the grapes should be sweet enough already. You can buy them from the shops too, if possible try to find organic grapes as they tend to be among the most pesticide-heavy crops when grown commercially. And I recommend using this method rather than a juice extractor/steamer, as that makes a very dilute juice that isn’t nearly as tasty and lacks many of the health benefits you get from the grape pulp and skin.

Step 1: Harvest or buy your grapes, and give them a good rinse. If coming direct from the garden, check for spiders and insects!

Step 2: Pluck the grapes off their stems, removing any that are shrivelled or unripe, and chuck them into a large saucepan. Use a masher to crush the grapes. I recommend using about 4 kilos of grapes at any one time.

Step 3: Place the pan on the hob and heat, bringing gradually to the boil. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, and use the masher again to crush the grapes a bit more.

The colour will start to change from green to plummy red tones:

Step 4: Strain the mixture. There are two ways to do this. You can use a fine mesh sieve placed over another large saucepan, allowing the juice to drip through.

Or you can use a couple of large muslin cloths, placing the mix in them and tying with an elastic band. I put this in a steamer so that the juice can drip through the holes into a pan below. Both methods work well. Leave for a few hours for the juice to drip through.

Step 5: Decant your lovely grape juice into containers and bottles. I use small tupperware containers for freezing the juice (you want enough to enjoy from time to time but not too much at one go). I keep one bottle in the fridge to use over the coming days. After about a week, the juice will start fermenting and go slightly fizzy, and eventually it turns to vinegar, hence the benefit of freezing the extra.

4 kilos of grapes made a litre bottle of juice plus two tupperware containers for freezing. You can drink the juice straight, it’s super potent so probably just a small glass. I like to dilute it about 50:50 with water (you could use still or fizzy) and add a couple of chunky ice cubes to the glass. I promise you that you’ll never taste anything this good bought from a shop, so it’s totally worth the effort!