Winemaking and Jelly: Possum Grapes

And just like that Elderberry season is gone! It’s time to move onward in our winemaking extravaganza, for it’s now the season for Possum Grapes. These tiny, buckshot-sized, purple grapes are mostly seed. They grow wild and can engulf entire trees in a season. Most people will cut them back before they have the chance to produce fruit, but if you’re like me you can’t resist any chance to harvest something wild (or free!).  Many people confuse Muscadines (larger and bronze when ripe) with Possum grapes (small and purple when ripe), but one you identify one, the difference will be obvious.

If you’ve read any of my other winemaking posts, feel free to scroll down to the actual recipe. If you’re new to winemaking be sure to read over some of these helpful hints and explanations before moving forward.

Country Wine: Equipment and Ingredients

It is possible to make wine with minimum equipment and purchases. The bare necessities (in my humble experience) that you’ll want include:

• Food-grade bucket, preferably 5-gallon. Check with a local bakery or deli.
• A large strainer or sieve plus some cheesecloth.
• About 4-5 feet of food-grade tubing. Look in the plumbing section of a hardware store.
• Gallon-sized glass carboys or 5-gallon collapsible water cubes. Carboys can be saved from juice purchases. The water cubes are fantastic for making odd-sized batches of wine and can be found at camping supply stores.
• Balloons and cotton balls, or  airlocks.
• Yeast. You can use regular baking yeast, but if you want a better flavor you can opt for different “wine” strains of yeast found at winemaking/brewing stores. I’ve used Montrachet as it’s recommended to balance the flavors of berry wines.
• Bottles and Corks. I save all my bottles from other purchases like wine, vinegar, juice, and so on. I purchased “mushroom” corks since they don’t require a tool to insert them into the bottles.

Optional:

• Campden tablets to sterilize equipment, remove stray yeast and bacteria (highly recommended unless you have problems with sulfites).
• Tannin, citric acid, or Earle Grey tea for flavor balance in sweeter wines.
• Extra sugar or wine conditioner to sweeten and brighten finished wine.
• Pectic acid for removing extra pectin and “clarify” wine.
• Yeast nutrient to feed yeast. Recipes without nutrient require extra sugar.

You can purchase all of these items from a wine and beer making supplier or spend a little more energy and locate many things locally. I purchased my airlock, water cube, yeast, campden tablets, and corks from E.C. Kraus. for less than $50. The rest I found locally or did without.

Possum Grape (Wild Grape) Wine

I altered this recipe based on my purposes, though it’s roughly based on one I found at Wildfoods.info. I highly recommend that you read that entire article before proceeding here. I honestly could not give anywhere near the amount of fabulous information that is offered.

• 1 gallon wild grapes with vine will make about 1 bottle of wine. Multiply recipe as needed.
• 1 gallon Possum Grapes
• 1/3 lb granulated sugar
• 1 campden tablet (1 tablet is good for up to 1 gallon of liquid. One tablet should be enough for up to 3 gallons of grapes)
• 1 tsp yeast

1. Wash grapes. Wrap fruit in cheesecloth or muslin and squeeze as much juice as possible. Alternately you could crush them in a china cap with a dowel, but avoid crushing the seeds. Strain fruit overnight. Add one campden tablet before completing this portion.
2. The next day, add sugar and yeast and mix well. Cap holding container (glass bottle, carboy, watercube) with airlock. *We are very prone to mold and mildews thanks to our humidity. If you have a drier season and desire a more natural wine, you can omit the campden tablet and yeast altogether. Prior to airlocking your wine, allow it to capture a wild yeast. You’ll know you’ve captured one when you see your wine bubbling and have no signs of bacteria. When it begins to bubble you can close your container with your airlock.
3. When the wine stops bubbling you can siphon off the liquid from any sediment with your tubing. Siphon the wine into your sterile bottles and cork. Allow to rest about 6 months before consuming.

Possum Grape (Wild Grape) Jelly

• 1 gallon fruit, stemmed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 5-1/2 cup sugar
• Pectin if desired

1. Wash grapes. Pour 1 quart boiling water over fruit. Wrap fruit in cheesecloth or muslin and squeeze as much juice as possible. Alternately you could crush them in a china cap with a dowel, but avoid crushing the seeds. Strain fruit overnight.
2. Take four cups of grape juice and mix with remaining ingredients. Bring quickly to soft-ball stage and skim any foam before pouring into sterilized canning jars.
3. Let boil in hot water bath for 15 minutes.
4. Check seals on lids before putting jars in storage. 

Ta daa! You have scrumdillyumptious homemade grape jelly and wine for the price of sugar and some easy pickin’.

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Winemaking and Jam: Elderberry

Now that blackberries are done for most of us, Elderberries are the next wild fruit in season. I can’t just sit by and watch good food go to waste, so of course I must climb through the remaining rose and blackberry brambles to reach the tiny purple fruits of the Elderberry. Poke berries are also starting to ripen so be sure to avoid those!! Know how to identify your berries before consuming. Poke is poisonous!

Elderberries should be picked and consumed with some knowledge as well:

According to Wikipedia, 

“The leaves, twigs, branches, seeds and roots contain a cyanide producing glycoside. Ingesting any of these parts in sufficient quantity can cause a toxic build up of cyanide in the body. In addition, the unripened berry, flowers and “umbels” contain a toxic alkaloid.

Due to the possibility of cyanide poisoning, children should be discouraged from making whistles, slingshots or other toys from elderberry wood. In addition, “herbal teas” made with elderberry leaves (which contain cyanide inducing glycosides) should be treated with high caution. However, ripe berries (pulp and skin) are safe to eat.^“

If you’re fortunate enough to have access to this wonderful plant, I suggest taking the time to prepare one of these tasty recipes. The sweetened berries taste a bit like a cross between a cherry and a blackberry. Who could go wrong with that?!

 

Elderberry Wine

3 lbs fresh, ripe elderberries

1-1/2 lbs sugar

4 quarts water

1 Tbsp yeast

Campden tablets (optional, but highly recommended)

1 tsp citric acid (optional)

1/2 lb sugar

1. Wash berries and pick out any green fruit and stems. This can take quite a while for 3 pounds worth of fruit. I suggest pouring the berries onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (for contrast) to make the job easier.
2. Sterilize all equipment with boiling water. If you purchased campden tablets you can crush one per gallon of water to ensure sterilization.
3. Boil water and  1-1/2 lb sugar until well dissolved. Pour into elderberries and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
4. Put elderberries into a food mill to release juices. Return berry skins to liquid. Alternatively, wear rubber gloves and smoosh with hands.
5. Add crushed Campden Tablet and citric acid then allow to rest for 24 hours.
6. The next day, add yeast to your soon-to-be wine and mix well. Top off your carboy or watercube with an airlock and allow the juices to do their work over the next 2 weeks.
7. After 2 weeks, strain berry pulp from fermenting liquid using a cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve. Make sure you use sterilized equipment! Add final 1/2 pound sugar and close your container with an airlock or balloon.
8. Allow to rest 10 days.
9. Ten days later, use your original bucket (cleaned and sterilized) and tubing to siphon the fermenting liquid from the sediment. Place your bucket on the floor and your carboy/watercube/jug on a table or counter. Insert one end of tubing into the wine and suck just a bit to get the siphon action going.
10. While the siphoned liquid is resting in the bucket, clean your carboy/cube/jug and re-sterilize along with your tubing.
11. Siphon the liquid again – back into the cleaned carboy/cube/jug .
12. Close container with airlock or balloon as before.
13. Let rest for 3 months or longer so that the yeast can work its magic. Once the mixture stops bubbling (if you’re using an airlock) or the balloon deflates the wine is ready to be siphoned into your sterilized bottles and corked.
14. Allow to age an additional 3 months minimum (9 months to one year is best) before drinking.

Country Wine: Equipment and Ingredients

It is possible to make wine with minimum equipment and purchases. The bare necessities (in my humble experience) that you’ll want include:

• Food-grade bucket, preferably 5-gallon. Check with a local bakery or deli.
• A large strainer or sieve plus some cheesecloth.
• About 4-5 feet of food-grade tubing. Look in the plumbing section of a hardware store.
• Gallon-sized glass carboys or 5-gallon collapsible water cubes. Carboys can be saved from juice purchases. The water cubes are fantastic for making odd-sized batches of wine and can be found at camping supply stores.
• Balloons and cotton balls, or  airlocks.
• Yeast. You can use regular baking yeast, but if you want a better flavor you can opt for different “wine” strains of yeast found at winemaking/brewing stores. I’ve used Montrachet as it’s recommended to balance the flavors of berry wines.
• Bottles and Corks. I save all my bottles from other purchases like wine, vinegar, juice, and so on. I purchased “mushroom” corks since they don’t require a tool to insert them into the bottles.

Optional:

• Campden tablets to sterilize equipment, remove stray yeast and bacteria (highly recommended unless you have problems with sulfites).
• Tannin, citric acid, or Earle Grey tea for flavor balance in sweeter wines.
• Extra sugar or wine conditioner to sweeten and brighten finished wine.
• Pectic acid for removing extra pectin and “clarify” wine.
• Yeast nutrient to feed yeast. Recipes without nutrient require extra sugar.

You can purchase all of these items from a wine and beer making supplier or spend a little more energy and locate many things locally. I purchased my airlock, water cube, yeast, campden tablets, and corks from E.C. Kraus. for less than $50. The rest I found locally or did without.

 

Elderberry Jam

from the Ball Blue Book, yield about 3 pints

• 2 quarts crushed elderberries (ripe berries, stemmed)
• 6 C sugar
• 1/4 C vinegar

1. Combine berries, sugar and vinegar. Bring slowly to boiling, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.
2. Cook rapidly until thick. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
3. Pour, boiling hot, into sterilized jars. Adjust caps.

Yield: about 3 pints.

I hope you get the opportunity to sample some elderberries in one form or another this year! The purple stains are worth it!!

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Winemaking: Dandelion

If you’re like me, you enjoy seeing the happy yellow flowers of dandelions blooming in your yard. They bring back memories of childhood games, of rubbing pollen on my chin and nose. I’ve also come to adore dandelion greens in my salad and still believe that wishes will come true when dandelion seeds float through the air.

Perhaps one of those wishes was to give me more dandelion blossoms – if so, it definitely came true this year!

Next year when spring is closing in but when winter still has us in it’s grasp, I’ll be enjoying a glass of spring to get me through those last chilly days. Here is the recipe I’m using this year. Several online friends shared their recipes and I picked out some of my favorite bits, making my own conglomeration. I froze my dandelion heads, keeping them in the freezer until I had accumulated enough to make a large batch of wine.

Dandelion Wine

• 3 cups packed dandelion flower petals – remove as much green as possible.
• 1 medium club ginger, sliced
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 6 cups boiled, chlorine-free water
• juice and zest of two oranges
• juice and zest of one lemon
• 1/2 t. yeast
• campden tablets

1. Sterilize all equipment with boiling water. If you purchased campden tablets you can crush one per gallon of water to ensure sterilization.
2. Pour boiling water and campden tablet (optional) over flower petals, sugar, and ginger slices.
3. Allow to cool to room temperature then add citrus juices and zest as well as yeast.
4. Let steep 8 hours or overnight.
5. Strain solids from liquid with strainer or cheesecloth, then siphon into clean, sterilized carboy, watercube, or bottle. Close container with airlock or cotton stuffed balloon.
6. Allow to ferment for about 1-2 months. When fermentation stops (the wine will stop bubbling if using an airlock, or the balloon will collapse), sample the wine to sweeten if necessary. Siphon wine into two sterile 750ml bottles and cork.
7. Let the wine age for another 3 months before drinking, although it should be better if it ages at least another 6 months.

Here are some recommended equipment and guidelines for brewing wine at home. Also, be sure to reference the other wine recipes I’ve shared: blackberry and plum.

Country Wine: Equipment and Ingredients

It is possible to make wine with minimum equipment and purchases. The bare necessities (in my humble experience) that you’ll want include:

• Food-grade bucket, preferably 5-gallon. Check with a local bakery or deli.
• A large strainer or sieve plus some cheesecloth.
• About 4-5 feet of food-grade tubing. Look in the plumbing section of a hardware store.
• Gallon-sized glass carboys or 5-gallon collapsible water cubes. Carboys can be saved from juice purchases. The water cubes are fantastic for making odd-sized batches of wine and can be found at camping supply stores.
• Balloons and cotton balls, or  airlocks.
• Yeast. You can use regular baking yeast, but if you want a better flavor you can opt for different “wine” strains of yeast found at winemaking/brewing stores. I’ve used Montrachet as it’s recommended to balance the flavors of berry wines.
• Bottles and Corks. I save all my bottles from other purchases like wine, vinegar, juice, and so on. I purchased “mushroom” corks since they don’t require a tool to insert them into the bottles.

Optional:

• Campden tablets to sterilize equipment, remove stray yeast and bacteria (highly recommended unless you have problems with sulfites).
• Tannin, citric acid, or Earle Grey tea for flavor balance in sweeter wines.
• Extra sugar or wine conditioner to sweeten and brighten finished wine.
• Pectic acid for removing extra pectin and “clarify” wine.
• Yeast nutrient to feed yeast. Recipes without nutrient require extra sugar.

You can purchase all of these items from a wine and beer making supplier or spend a little more energy and locate many things locally. I purchased my airlock, water cube, yeast, campden tablets, and corks from E.C. Kraus. for less than $50. The rest I found locally or did without.

*****

Do you brew anything at home?

You can also find Jennifer at Unearthing This Life trying to take each day as it comes.

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Winemaking: Plum

When we moved into our house on 4th of July four years ago we had three cultivated plum trees and two peach. That first spring living there we had a late winter freeze followed that summer with a severe drought. Our trees were badly damaged and we actually lost one of the peach trees. The next spring a late frost hit the blossoms. The third summer brought us no peaches, but tons of plums – all spoiled with worms. Which brings us to this year. We had the perfect spring, thousands of blossoms, lots of fruit … until the Japanese beetles created lace out of the leaves, stressing the trees so that they dropped every single fruit.

Fortunately we have many wild plums of the Chickasaw variety. The fruits are small, about the size of a grape with an almond-sized seed inside. They’re ripe when they start turning orange, and they have a sweet and pungent flavor. Even our dog would get excited when we’d start harvesting because he’d pick up the fruits we’d drop on the ground! The small plums aren’t much for more than snacking on, but they should make a tasty summer wine.

Even if you don’t have access to wild plums, you can use a cultivated variety for wine making. You may find, however, that you’ll want to add some citric acid to balance the flavors out a bit since cultivated plums aren’t quite as tart.

Country Wine: Equipment and Ingredients

It is possible to make wine with minimum equipment and purchases. The bare necessities (in my humble experience) that you’ll want include:

• Food-grade bucket, preferably 5-gallon. Check with a local bakery or deli.
• A large strainer or sieve plus some cheesecloth.
• About 4-5 feet of food-grade tubing. Look in the plumbing section of a hardware store.
• Gallon-sized glass carboys or 5-gallon collapsible water cubes. Carboys can be saved from juice purchases. The water cubes are fantastic for making odd-sized batches of wine and can be found at camping supply stores.
• Balloons and cotton balls, or  airlocks.
• Yeast. You can use regular baking yeast, but if you want a better flavor you can opt for different “wine” strains of yeast found at winemaking/brewing stores. I’ve used Montrachet as it’s recommended to balance the flavors of berry wines.
• Bottles and Corks. I save all my bottles from other purchases like wine, vinegar, juice, and so on. I purchased “mushroom” corks since they don’t require a tool to insert them into the bottles.

Optional:

• Campden tablets to sterilize equipment, remove stray yeast and bacteria (highly recommended unless you have problems with sulfites).
• Tannin, citric acid, or Earl Grey tea for flavor balance in sweeter wines.
• Extra sugar or wine conditioner to sweeten and brighten finished wine.
• Pectic acid for removing extra pectin and “clarify” wine.
• Yeast nutrient to feed yeast. Recipes without nutrient require extra sugar.

You can purchase all of these items from a wine and beer making supplier or spend a little more energy and locate many things locally. I purchased my airlock, water cube, yeast, campden tablets, and corks from E.C. Kraus. for less than $50. The rest I found locally or did without.

Plum Wine:

• 3-1/2 lb ripe plums
• Campden tablets
• 1 tsp citric acid – not necessary with wild plums
• 4lb granulated pure cane sugar
• 3 quarts distilled, or boiled chlorine-free water
• 1 package yeast
• 1 quart distilled, or boiled chlorine-free water

1. Sterilize all equipment with boiling water and Campden tablets.
2. Wash plums. Remove any spoiled spots or fruit.
3. Smash fruit with hands, food mill, or potato masher. Be sure to keep skins in the mixture – they’ll add a bit of body to the final product.
   Add 3 quarts water and one Campden tablet and mix. Cover loosely with a lid or cheesecloth.
4. Allow to rest in a warm, dark room for ten days.
   At the end of ten days skim any residue off the top. Remove fruit with a slotted spoon or spider, draining well. With a cheesecloth, strain and squeeze liquid into a sterile carboy/watercube.
   Dissolve sugar in 1 quart boiling water. Once it is cool add to fruit with yeast and citric acid.
5. Close container with airlock or a balloon stuffed with cotton ball.
6. Cover and stir daily for three days.
7. use your original bucket (cleaned and sterilized) and tubing to siphon the fermenting liquid from the sediment. Place your bucket on the floor and your carboy/watercube/jug on a table or counter. Insert one end of tubing into the wine and suck just a bit to get the siphon action going.
8. While the siphoned liquid is resting in the bucket, clean your carboy/cube/jug and re-sterilize along with your tubing.
9. Siphon the liquid again – back into the cleaned carboy/cube/jug
10. Close container with airlock or balloon as before.
11. Let rest for 3 months or longer so that the yeast can work its magic. Once the mixture stops bubbling (if you’re using an airlock) or the balloon deflates the wine is ready to be siphoned into your sterilized bottles and corked.
12. Allow the wine to rest for at least another 3 months before sampling, but it will taste better if you let it age longer.

Come back next week when I share some dandelion wine recipe I’ll be using for brewing. Visit my previous post for information on making blackberry wine.

You can find Jennifer over at Unearthing This Life where she blargs about life in rural Tennessee while waxing poetic (or whining miserably) about growing up in suburbia south of Chicago.

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Winemaking: Blackberry

If you’ve read some of my previous posts you’ve probably gathered that I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then (read: “now” as 4:30 and “then” as 5:00 pm). I really can’t think of a much better way to keep my wine guzzling sipping experience as local as possible other than making it myself. Sure, we have several good vineyards and wineries in our region and I love to purchase from them when possible. Keep in mind, though, that many wineries import some of their fruit to blend with their local selections.

Homemade berry wines are often referred to as “country wine.” I began brewing my own wine last year as an experiment. I had so many blackberries that I couldn’t give them away. I had jars and jars of jam that were given freely as gifts. I think my poor mail delivery gal was bursting with my jam. I have perfected several types of cobbler (which the mere thought of still makes me quiver from having eaten so much). My hands and arms are permanently scarred from last year’s harvest simply because we were so plentiful! So being a wine lover I couldn’t think of a better way of using up my bounty than to experiment with wine. I will admit that I am barely practiced on this subject, but I thought I’d share my learnings and experiences thus far in hopes of building upon all of our practices. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions!

Country Wine: Equipment and Ingredients

It is possible to make wine with minimum equipment and purchases. The bare necessities (in my humble experience) that you’ll want include:

• Food-grade bucket, preferably 5-gallon. Check with a local bakery or deli.
• A large strainer or sieve plus some cheesecloth.
• About 4-5 feet of food-grade tubing. Look in the plumbing section of a hardware store.
• Gallon-sized glass carboys or 5-gallon collapsible water cubes. Carboys can be saved from juice purchases. The water cubes are fantastic for making odd-sized batches of wine and can be found at camping supply stores.
• Balloons and cotton balls, or  airlocks.
• Yeast. You can use regular baking yeast, but if you want a better flavor you can opt for different “wine” strains of yeast found at winemaking/brewing stores. I’ve used Montrachet as it’s recommended to balance the flavors of berry wines.
• Bottles and Corks. I save all my bottles from other purchases like wine, vinegar, juice, and so on. I purchased “mushroom” corks since they don’t require a tool to insert them into the bottles.

Optional:

• Campden tablets to sterilize equipment, remove stray yeast and bacteria (highly recommended unless you have problems with sulfites).
• Tannin, citric acid, or Earle Grey tea for flavor balance in sweeter wines.
• Extra sugar or wine conditioner to sweeten and brighten finished wine.
• Pectic acid for removing extra pectin and “clarify” wine.
• Yeast nutrient to feed yeast. Recipes without nutrient require extra sugar.

You can purchase all of these items from a wine and beer making supplier or spend a little more energy and locate many things locally. I purchased my airlock, water cube, yeast, campden tablets, and corks from E.C. Kraus. for less than $50. The rest I found locally or did without.

One note about sugar – many of us prefer to use honey or raw sugars in our every day cooking in order to stay away from processed foods and HFCS. I have read that professional beverage makers use white sugar because the sweetness levels are more predictable to work with. I honestly don’t know if there’s any truth behind this or if it’s a matter of expense. For my recipes I’ve used granulated cane sugar. As I get into more honey I will be trying a few batches made with honey in place of sugar.

Blackberry Wine (1 gallon):

• 4.5 lb fresh berries
• 4 cups distilled or boiled, chlorine-free water
• Campden tablets (optional)
• 1-3/4 cups granulated cane sugar
• 6 cups distilled or boiled, chlorine-free water
• 1 packet yeast
• 1-3/4 cups granulated cane sugar
• 2 cups distilled or boiled, chlorine-free water
• 1-1/2 cups granulated cane sugar
• 2 cups distilled or boiled, chlorine-free water

1. Sterilize all equipment with boiling water. If you purchased campden tablets you can crush one per gallon of water to ensure sterilization.
2. Wash berries and pick out any spoiling fruit before crushing in your bucket. Using bare hands is tons of fun, but you can use a food mill if you prefer to keep your nails stain-free. Be sure to add the pulp back into the juice if you are using a mill.
3. Add one quart of water – cooled – and an optional campden tablet. Wait 24 hours.
4. Boil 6 cups water and 1-3/4 cups sugar together for 1 minute. Allow to cool to room temperature.
5. Activate yeast in small amount of warm water.
6. Add cooled sugar-water and yeast to fruit mixture.
7. Cover and let rest one week.
8. One week later, strain fruit from mixture with cheesecloth and sieve being sure to get every ounce of juice from the berries. Put liquid in clean and sterilized carboy or water cube.
9. Boil 2 cups of water with another 1-3/4 cups sugar for one minute. Allow to cool to room temperature before mixing into fruit liquid.
10. Close container with airlock or a balloon stuffed with cotton ball.
11. Allow to rest 10 days.
12. Ten days later, use your original bucket (cleaned and sterilized) and tubing to siphon the fermenting liquid from the sediment. Place your bucket on the floor and your carboy/watercube/jug on a table or counter. Insert one end of tubing into the wine and suck just a bit to get the siphon action going.
13. While the siphoned liquid is resting in the bucket, clean your carboy/cube/jug and re-sterilize along with your tubing.
14. Boil 2 cups water and 1-1/2 cups sugar for one minute and allow to cool to room temperature.
15. Siphon the liquid again – back into the cleaned carboy/cube/jug and mix in the last of the sugar-water.
16. Close container with airlock or balloon as before.
17. Let rest for 3 months or longer so that the yeast can work its magic. Once the mixture stops bubbling (if you’re using an airlock) or the balloon deflates the wine is ready to be siphoned into your sterilized bottles and corked.

I highly recommend waiting at least 6 months from the original date before drinking your wine. This makes a fabulous gift for the holidays. We celebrated New Year’s Eve with all of our friends across the country by opening the wine at midnight. This year I believe I’ll add a bit of conditioner or glycerine to add some extra sweetness to the finished wine since my batch was dry.

I’m already anticipating New Year’s Eve this year. Winemaking definitely gives me a local, homemade something to look forward to during the bleak, chilly months of winter. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few more winemaking recipes including wild plum and dandelion.

What are your favorite Country Wines?

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