It has been crazy busy at the office the last couple of weeks. We put on a two-day music festival once a year in Fort Morgan and bring in a band from the 80s. The past few years we’ve had Blue Oyster Cult, Little River Band, and Foghat come and play. The best part is that the entire event is free to the community! We don’t have a very big staff at Media Logic, so it is a lot of work. It is a really fun event, but a lot to coordinate.
I bring this up because our two-day festival starts tomorrow! Ahh, hence why we have been crazy busy at our office… I am really excited to get things rolling. It is a long two days in the sun with a lot of running around doing different things – making announcements on stage, coordinating with bands, setting up meet-and-greets, etc. I plan to just lounge the entire day on Sunday. I’ll probably let Donny grill me some food for the week. I’ll probably divide it all up for my weekly meals myself, but no guarantees!
If you live in Northeast Colorado then I hope you come out to Bobstock! Warrant is headlining Friday night and Lou Gramm, the Voice of Foreigner is headlining Saturday. We three stages set up and over 15 bands come and play over the two days. It’s a lot of fun!
So I don’t know about you, but I like to make toast for breakfast and top it with some type of jelly, jam, or butter. Some of my favorites are nut butters, apple butter, apricot jam, and grape jelly. I prefer strawberries over grapes, but grape jelly over strawberry jelly. What a weirdo, I know!
Well this version of grape jam is just as good as grape jelly, but has been made with only 4 ingredients, all of them clean foods! So what is the difference between jelly and jam? Jelly is made using fruit juice and jam is made using the actual fruit. Put that little piece of knowledge in your back pocket!
The main ingredient for this recipe is obviously grapes (hence the jam), but also water, chia seed, and some raw honey. If your fruit was ripe enough and you wanted to make a three-ingredient grape jam then you could omit the honey.
This recipe doesn’t take much cooking time, but it does need to sit in the refrigerator a few hours so that the chia seed gelatinizes. I also didn’t take the skins off of the grapes for this recipe. Instead, I chose to leave them on and put them in a blender once they were cooked down.
I used one full tablespoon of honey for this and afterward I wished I had used half a tablespoon. Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that the jam is sweet… but I think I would try half the next time.
Donny told a couple people at his office about this recipe and our friend, Nick, told him I should make a version using raspberries and agave. I will take that challenge! I am guessing it will be delicious. So, coming to a blog near you…. Raspberry-Agave Jam!
In fact, the great thing about jellies and jams is that you can choose any fruit to use and it will most likely be delicious! I would like to try apricot chia jam or maybe a mixed berry. Oh the possibilities…..
- 2 cups grapes, halved
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tbsp chia seed
- 1/2 - 1 Tbsp raw honey
- Place grapes and water in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Gently mash the grapes with a fork or spatula as they cook.
- Transfer the grapes and water to a blender. Pulse or blend until smooth.
- Pour into a small mixing bowl and add honey.
- Add chia to the bowl and stir until well combined. Pour contents into a mason jar and place in the refrigerator.
- Chill jam for at least two hours before serving.
- Any variety of grape can be used for the jam, as well as other fruits including strawberry, peach, apricot, etc.
What is your favorite flavor of jam?!?
Anything cherry…..
I have cherries… I can make that happen!