Grape Squash–Let’s welcome the sunny days

I planned to make some wine and asked AJ to get some grapes. He got 2 kgs and the bottle I had for wine would fit only ½ kg of grapes. Both of us are not really fond of grapes and I wondered what to do. I knew google would help me out to find a solution and I was right -  grape squash.

But all the recipes called out for some preserving agents like sodium benzoate and citric acid. I did not want to use them and so came up with my own recipe. This tastes really great and I am not sure about the life of it. I stored it in my refrigerator and its about 3 – 4 weeks now – still great. I shall update about the life as much as I keep it J

You know what, It has been a year that I wrote the above and somehow missed to post this. Now I can tell you about the life of the syrup. Definitely a year plus if kept under refrigeration J

Ingredients(Yields 1.5 litres):

Red Ripe Grapes   --   1 kg
Sugar                       --   2 cups or more according to your taste
Lemon juice          --   ¼ cup
Water                      --   1 cup

Preparation of Squash/syrup:

Cook the grapes with one cup of water. Mash the grapes in between as much as you can. You can use a potato masher/pestle. Make sure that all the grapes are cooked.

If you are not able to mash it well, give a pulse in the mixer.

Strain the juice with a strainer with large holes so that you get some pulp too. Now add the sugar and let it boil again until it forms a thick syrup. Add the lemon juice and switch off the flame. let it cool, pour into clean and dry bottles and refrigerate.

To Serve:

Take ¼ glass of the syrup and then fill the glass with chilled water. Top with ice cubes and serve. Its simply refreshing in the summer.

Recipe Courtesy: Myself