It's a little known fact that dried fruits and grains make fantastic wines. They need a little more time to mature before reaching peak flavor, but it is well worth the wait. Mixtures of fruits and grains make a strong full flavored homemade wine similar to a whisky or brandy.
Dried fruits you buy in the store contain a large amount of added preservatives to maintain flavor and color. Grains have a tendency to have been exposed to some amount of dust or other byproduct. It's best to therefore clean these items well before beginning your wine making. Boil a pot of water and immerse the grapes, dates, etc… into the water for a few seconds and then strain. Repeat this process with the wheat, or other grains. Strain with a fine muslin to be sure not to wash away all your grain.
Recipes for making fruit wines allow tannin in the fruits. Tannin is an important part of the flavor of the wine; though few people realize it. Yet they soon know when there is too much because the wine takes on the flavor or 'tang' of strong unsweetened tea. Usually, there is no tannin present in dried fruit wines. Thus, it is as well to add one tablespoonful of freshly made tea-not too strong-to make a good deficiency. Special grape tannin is available, but tea is a cheap and handy source of which you might as well make use. In addition, you can include tea in the recipes.
Normally dried herbs cost less than 20 cents per packet and such a packet is usually more than enough for a gallon of wine. The actual amount of the dried herbs may be varied according to personal tastes, but usually two ounces are enough for one gallon, and this amount of herbs rarely costs very much. The amount in each packet varies slightly with the variety of herb.
Of course, those who know their herbs well enough to gather them fresh from the garden or field or hedgerow may do so, but you must remember that one needs at least one pound of the fresh plant to get the equivalent of two ounces of the dried herbs. On the one hand, it is also important that you should be expert at identification because many health-giving herbs bear a striking resemblance to others which have proved themselves to be deadly poisonous. So by buying ready packet of herbs such risks are done away with.
Here's a basic recipe to get you started.
Delicious Wine from Dried Fruit & Grain
1. Prepare 1 lb. raisins,3 lbs. prunes and 1 lb wheat as has already been advised. Then put them with the sliced 2 oranges and 2 lemons in the fermenting vessel.
2. Mix two pounds of sugar in 7 pints water and boil for two minutes. Pour over the ingredients while it is still boiling.
3. Cool the mixture and add 1 oz yeast.
4. Cover as directed and ferment the mixture for 10 days. Crush it well each day and stir up the wheat and cover again at once.
5. After 10 days, strain out the solids, and wring out as dry as you can and put the strained liquor in a gallon of jar.
6. Mix and boil one pound of sugar with two pints of water and when cool add it to the jug.
7. Cover as directed or fit fermentation lock and leave until all fermentation has ceased.
Dried fruits you buy in the store contain a large amount of added preservatives to maintain flavor and color. Grains have a tendency to have been exposed to some amount of dust or other byproduct. It's best to therefore clean these items well before beginning your wine making. Boil a pot of water and immerse the grapes, dates, etc… into the water for a few seconds and then strain. Repeat this process with the wheat, or other grains. Strain with a fine muslin to be sure not to wash away all your grain.
Recipes for making fruit wines allow tannin in the fruits. Tannin is an important part of the flavor of the wine; though few people realize it. Yet they soon know when there is too much because the wine takes on the flavor or 'tang' of strong unsweetened tea. Usually, there is no tannin present in dried fruit wines. Thus, it is as well to add one tablespoonful of freshly made tea-not too strong-to make a good deficiency. Special grape tannin is available, but tea is a cheap and handy source of which you might as well make use. In addition, you can include tea in the recipes.
Normally dried herbs cost less than 20 cents per packet and such a packet is usually more than enough for a gallon of wine. The actual amount of the dried herbs may be varied according to personal tastes, but usually two ounces are enough for one gallon, and this amount of herbs rarely costs very much. The amount in each packet varies slightly with the variety of herb.
Of course, those who know their herbs well enough to gather them fresh from the garden or field or hedgerow may do so, but you must remember that one needs at least one pound of the fresh plant to get the equivalent of two ounces of the dried herbs. On the one hand, it is also important that you should be expert at identification because many health-giving herbs bear a striking resemblance to others which have proved themselves to be deadly poisonous. So by buying ready packet of herbs such risks are done away with.
Here's a basic recipe to get you started.
Delicious Wine from Dried Fruit & Grain
1. Prepare 1 lb. raisins,3 lbs. prunes and 1 lb wheat as has already been advised. Then put them with the sliced 2 oranges and 2 lemons in the fermenting vessel.
2. Mix two pounds of sugar in 7 pints water and boil for two minutes. Pour over the ingredients while it is still boiling.
3. Cool the mixture and add 1 oz yeast.
4. Cover as directed and ferment the mixture for 10 days. Crush it well each day and stir up the wheat and cover again at once.
5. After 10 days, strain out the solids, and wring out as dry as you can and put the strained liquor in a gallon of jar.
6. Mix and boil one pound of sugar with two pints of water and when cool add it to the jug.
7. Cover as directed or fit fermentation lock and leave until all fermentation has ceased.
