How to Find White Grape Juice Concentrate

Struggling with how to find white grape juice concentrate to use as a sweetener in canning? I’m here to help!

In my newest book, Naturally Sweet Food in Jars, I devote an entire chapter to recipes that used 100% fruit juice concentrates as their source of sweetness. Though the work of the developing that book is behind me, those juice concentrates continue to be a favorite tool when I need a relatively neutral natural sweetener.

White grape juice concentrate is my preferred flavor and I reference it in the book often. During the time I was writing the bulk of the recipes in the book (a mere year and a half ago), it could easily get it at both Wegmans and Acme. However, in the last few months, it’s become harder to find (of course!), and I’m hearing from a number of you that you’re also struggling to find it in your stores.

For those of you who are experiencing sourcing issues, don’t give up. There are a few ways around this.

1. Go to your grocery store’s customer service desk and ask if they can special order some for you. Make sure you specify that you want the version that is 100% fruit juice (not fruit cocktail). If you need a brand name, ask for either the one made by Welch’s or the Old Orchard version.

2. Instead of torturing yourself to find the frozen concentrate, boil down a bottle of white grape juice until you have a concentrated strength. Most of the time, it is sold in bottles holding half a gallon, which means you’re starting with eight cups. Cook that down to a syrupy two cups and you’ll be good to go.

3. Use apple juice concentrate instead. However, while it’s more readily available than white grape, it’s not as a sweet. To compensate for that intensity, use 25% more apple juice concentrate that you would white grape, to make up for the different in flavor.

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