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Warming Ginger Wine
I'll start with an apology: I mixed Rogation Sunday (yesterday) with Whit Sunday (June 12). What with all these holidays (Early Spring Bank Holiday May 2, Spring Bank Holiday May 30,) I am becoming totally confused and it's nothing to do with Nita's Ginger Wine, either.
I don't care for red wine and I can't say white wine is much better, but I'll accept a glass of home made wine any day. Fifty years ago, when Peterused to grow vegetables he bordered the patch with parsley, which grew thick and frilly.Neighbourshad a bunchwhen they were making cawl. (Fishguard is a small place and word soon got round that wehad large quantities of the stuff).
A lot of superstitions surround the growing of parsley and some believe you must plant it when the moon is waxing or waning, or the tides are high or low or you've let the cat out early. Whatever.Actually,Peter thinks his success was due to throwing the left over fertiliser into the border before scattering the parsley seed. Anyway.
One day a neighbour decided I should makeParsley Wine. (I'm so malleable). I'd not made wine before so she gave me some tips. One was touse glass or stoneware in preparing the wine, never plastic. The other wastofloat the yeast on a piece of toast. Stirring the yeast into the liquid makes the wine cloudy andthen you haveto strain it over and over. After a few months (when the wine had matured- I was doing this properly, cofiwch chi,)theneighbour was presented with a bottle.It was pronouncedgood, it hada kick, it was clear as a bell and akin to champagne. (If I'd known she was such a judge I wouldn't have attempted it).
I've tasted carrot wine (liked it a lot), potato wine (very good) and ginger wine, whichI like but is not to everyone's taste.
Now, I have a problem: I tinker with recipes. I made my mother a raisin cake and she asked two friends to tea. These twobaked for Cake Stalls, Bring and Buys, Choir Suppers.My mother said they were delirious about my cake, could they have the recipe. Ihad no idea what I'd used, because sometimes I'll add a spoonful of ginger marmalade or a spoonful of syrup or a few tablespoons of sherry, so I am not an exact cook, but as long as the food tastes good...Now before I forget, here'sthe Ginger Wine recipe and remember to have aschooner with a slice of raisin cake.
1 gallon of water, 1 pound of raisins,3 pounds of brown sugar, 2 ounces ofroot ginger, chopped finely.Place in a large container(s). Boil the water, pour over the ingredients, stir well.Allow to cool (just warm)and float 2 teaspoons of fresh yeast on a slice of toast on the liquid. You could now add the juice of an orange or a lemon, if you want to tinker. Next day, remove toast and yeast and discard. Strain liquid into another container and leave a fortnight. Stir each day. It will smell gorgeous. Keep itcovered but not tightly in case it goes 'Whoosh' in the night and gives you a fright. Leave a couple of months, strain into bottles and cork. Iechyd Da or Salute!.
Gillian, the Ginger Wine recipe sounds lovely, thank you for sharing! I'm going to try it ... and, if you don't mind, blog about it. I like the idea of cutting it down (maybe by half?) --I've never brewed anything before, but I'm willing to give it a tryfor my first time out. Is it okay to leave the wine ("for a couple of months") in a large wide-mouthed jar?
I am actually seeking Welsh recipes too cook at home, share with my family, and write about on my blog. Would you call this a uniquely Welsh recipe? The whole of my ancestry is from the U.K. and Ireland so I'm using food as the basis for researching my roots. I can have my family history and eat it too! Thanks again, and I'll be sure to check back to let you know whether anyone drinks the fruits of my labors ... and lives to tell the tale.
Hi Gaabi. Glad you like cooking and trying things out. At one time I wanted to teach cookery, so keen was I. One of my daughters says, and she doesn't mean it as a compliment, that no sooner have I eaten a meal than I begin thinking of the next. In a way, food is always at the back of my mind. One of my pet hates is the sort of celebrity who boasts she has only champagne and nail varnish in her fridge.
To go back to the wine, whichI first made fifty years ago. I pour hot water over the ingredients. Some people boil the parsley but it changes the colour of the liquid and a vitality is lost from the taste.Also it could look like algae!
Toast the bread well but don't let it burn. It must be large enough to hold the all the yeast.Graduallyit absorbsthe water bywhich time the yeast will have gone tacky and will have lost it's crumble. You can fish the little bread 'boat' out of the liquid with a perforated spoon.Why not try making some wine with a litre of water and downsizing the other ingredients? This way you won't waste much if you don't like it.
A teatowel can be used as a cover as long as it does not sink into the liquid. A colander is an idea, if it's the right size. I use greaseproof paper, making a dome and sellotaping it around the edges.Let meknow how you get on. Remember you can make wine from parsnips, apples, pears and many other fruits. Good luck, Gill
Wow, thank you! I'm going to try this! Sorry but you pour the boiling water ofer teh other ingredients in a large container and then put a slice of toast on top to float with 2t live years and then do you cover it or leave it open overnight? If no cover, should I put a towel over it? And sorry again, you float a piece of toasted bread on top and it doesn't get waterlogged and sink with the yeast?
Sorry for all the questions but I've never made wine or even beer (bad Oregonian, me!) and I love ginger and want to try it.
Many thanks for this latest recipe. As you may have noticed anything to do with the production and consumption of alcohol is warmly appreciated on this site. I was just wondering....why toast? Wouldn't the yeast work just as well on it's own?
My previous attempts at home brewing have all ended in failure. Specifically I failed the self-discipline test. I did once, however, spend a delightful evening, reading in front of the TV, sucking the half fermented contents from a 5 gallon plastic bucket through a siphon tube before retiring early to bed and waking the next morning with a very thick head. Ahh...the impatience and gluttony of youth
As I recall the book was Frederick Forsyth's "Day of The Jackal".