sure you know WHAT you are picking. Don’t just take someone’s word for it. Look it up in a wild plant field guide.
Admittedly it’s hard to mistake raspberries or strawberries for anything else that will harm you. Blueberries are pretty easy, too, or so I thought. Recently I discovered that friends of mine were making wine from what they said were blueberries. I looked at the berries and the plants they came from. Doubt crept over me. I had a horrible feeling the berries were nightshade. We discussed it at length. They had been eating these berries all summer, and hadn’t gotten ill from them.
I went to the reference section of the university library and did some careful checking with a sample of the leaves, flowers, and berries. Common nightshade!
As a matter of fact, common nightshade berries are quite good and are marketed as garden huckleberries or Wonderberries. One of these friends had grown up in the country, and they had always called these berries blueberries. I, who thought I knew what a blueberry was, felt quite shaken by the experience.
Deadly nightshade is much nastier.
ALWAYS double-check if you have the slightest doubt.
When you get the fruit, wash it and make it into wine as soon as possible. Slightly overripe fruit is OK. Rotten fruit is not OK. Any bits of mold should be cut away, as should bruises. Underripe fruit shouldn’t be used because it isn’t ripe. You won’t get a good flavor from it. Ripe fruit smells fragrant.
Sometimes people will cheerfully give you fruit. Maybe their trees or bushes overproduce. Ask around. Make friends with gardeners. Of course, you can always grow your own fruit, if you have a garden. I have only a small city lot, but I have tucked in many gooseberry and currant bushes.
Freezing fresh fruit seems to help release the juice. If you have a freezer, take advantage of this. Be sure you know the proper methods of freezing, of course. When your primary fermenters are busy, and the fruit is coming in too fast, you can simply freeze the surplus for future use.
The following recipes will make one-gallon batches. Make the wine in a one- or two-gallon batch the first time around to make sure you like it. Then, if you care to make bigger batches, multiply everything by five EXCEPT the yeast. Easy.
Let’s start with a wine that will run you through the basic steps of making a fresh fruit wine. Remember to read the recipe through, and to pay attention to sanitation. Tsp.=teaspoon, Tbls.=tablespoon, by the way. Use measuring spoons.
FURST RASPBERRY WINE
No, it’s not a typo. I have named this wine after the person who brought me that first bottle of homemade raspberry wine.
This is my favorite wine, bar none. I make some every year and guard it jealously. It is served only to special guests, and given away only to people I really like and respect. Made well, this wine is fragrant, subtle, dry, and goes with anything except heavy tomato and meat dishes.
It tastes of the fruit, but not overwhelmingly so. Put all thoughts of raspberry soda far from your mind and think of tart, warm berries picked in a lightly shaded meadow by a running stream. Chill it slightly, and sip. There, you see?
Raspberries are expensive. I usually go to a pick-your-own place and suffer mosquitoes and heat rash for this wine. I want perfect, flavorful, fresh berries. To heck with the scars. Then I drive homeas fast as I legally can and start the wine ASAP. Raspberries will start to mold within hours of picking.
It is true that sometimes I make a second batch with frozen berries from the store if my fresh berry supply hasn’t let me make the amount I want. Some raspberry wine is better than none, and more raspberry wine is better than a little.
For the El Primo stuff I use only the best. Wild raspberries, especially wild black raspberries, would probably kick me up into raspberry heaven.
I use sugar when I make this wine. Honey is OK, but to me it mars the taste. Other people might like
Admittedly it’s hard to mistake raspberries or strawberries for anything else that will harm you. Blueberries are pretty easy, too, or so I thought. Recently I discovered that friends of mine were making wine from what they said were blueberries. I looked at the berries and the plants they came from. Doubt crept over me. I had a horrible feeling the berries were nightshade. We discussed it at length. They had been eating these berries all summer, and hadn’t gotten ill from them.
I went to the reference section of the university library and did some careful checking with a sample of the leaves, flowers, and berries. Common nightshade!
As a matter of fact, common nightshade berries are quite good and are marketed as garden huckleberries or Wonderberries. One of these friends had grown up in the country, and they had always called these berries blueberries. I, who thought I knew what a blueberry was, felt quite shaken by the experience.
Deadly nightshade is much nastier.
ALWAYS double-check if you have the slightest doubt.
When you get the fruit, wash it and make it into wine as soon as possible. Slightly overripe fruit is OK. Rotten fruit is not OK. Any bits of mold should be cut away, as should bruises. Underripe fruit shouldn’t be used because it isn’t ripe. You won’t get a good flavor from it. Ripe fruit smells fragrant.
Sometimes people will cheerfully give you fruit. Maybe their trees or bushes overproduce. Ask around. Make friends with gardeners. Of course, you can always grow your own fruit, if you have a garden. I have only a small city lot, but I have tucked in many gooseberry and currant bushes.
Freezing fresh fruit seems to help release the juice. If you have a freezer, take advantage of this. Be sure you know the proper methods of freezing, of course. When your primary fermenters are busy, and the fruit is coming in too fast, you can simply freeze the surplus for future use.
The following recipes will make one-gallon batches. Make the wine in a one- or two-gallon batch the first time around to make sure you like it. Then, if you care to make bigger batches, multiply everything by five EXCEPT the yeast. Easy.
Let’s start with a wine that will run you through the basic steps of making a fresh fruit wine. Remember to read the recipe through, and to pay attention to sanitation. Tsp.=teaspoon, Tbls.=tablespoon, by the way. Use measuring spoons.
FURST RASPBERRY WINE
No, it’s not a typo. I have named this wine after the person who brought me that first bottle of homemade raspberry wine.
This is my favorite wine, bar none. I make some every year and guard it jealously. It is served only to special guests, and given away only to people I really like and respect. Made well, this wine is fragrant, subtle, dry, and goes with anything except heavy tomato and meat dishes.
It tastes of the fruit, but not overwhelmingly so. Put all thoughts of raspberry soda far from your mind and think of tart, warm berries picked in a lightly shaded meadow by a running stream. Chill it slightly, and sip. There, you see?
Raspberries are expensive. I usually go to a pick-your-own place and suffer mosquitoes and heat rash for this wine. I want perfect, flavorful, fresh berries. To heck with the scars. Then I drive homeas fast as I legally can and start the wine ASAP. Raspberries will start to mold within hours of picking.
It is true that sometimes I make a second batch with frozen berries from the store if my fresh berry supply hasn’t let me make the amount I want. Some raspberry wine is better than none, and more raspberry wine is better than a little.
For the El Primo stuff I use only the best. Wild raspberries, especially wild black raspberries, would probably kick me up into raspberry heaven.
I use sugar when I make this wine. Honey is OK, but to me it mars the taste. Other people might like
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