Bubble Bubble Bloop
At this time of the summer, as well as harvesting I’m busy ensuring the harvest extends throughout the year. My preference is drying fruit, fruit wines, pickling vegetables, making sauces, jams & chutneys (although some are frozen to be processed on cold winters days on the wood stove.) The first batch of fruit wine is bubbling away .I wait till the mad rush of Christmas berries are over before starting on the wine. Many fruits are best frozen first, as when the thaw many of the cells are broken & this helps mash up the fruit so as the yeast can work on the fruit. After much trial & error I make only 5 litres of wine at a time as this gives you 6 ½ bottles which is plenty for me & you can make more variety. More importantly the processes can be done on time, Straining, filtering & racking 5 litre takes only a few minutes. Making fruit wines is simple once you have organised the equipment. The main difference is that grapes have everything you need to make wine conta...