| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| gil |
bilberry + ? wineI have been mucking out my freezers and found 2-2.5lb of blueberries/bilberriesIf I were to make them into wine, what would be the best fruit to pad them out with to make a whole gallon ? I have a choice of sloes, damsons, plums, blackcurrants, rasps, redcurrants, gooseberries, rosehips, or crabapples BTW, my blueberry bushes appear to be having a holiday this year, so no chance of waiting for this year's harvest to add into the total. Suggestions, please |
| Jonnyboy |
How do the bilberries taste, acidic, herby, sweet?
Won't that have an impact on the companion fruit you choose? |
| gil |
That's what I was thinking. The blueberries are sweet, the wild bilberries more sour.
I can either go for something neutral, so the wine mainly tastes of the blue/bil fruits, or for something that would complement them. |
| Jonnyboy |
It's a hard call, from tasting your bramble and damson I would say they pack enough punch & flavour to overpower the bilberries.
Redcurrant perhaps? |
| gil |
I think redcurrant would overpower them too.
I would like to make a 'vaccinium'-only wine. Good news is that I just googled, and found various recipes for blueberry wine, none of which require more than 2lb of fruit. So I've actually got enough on their own. (I thought I might need 3lb fruit per gallon) 
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| cab |
Gooseberry, it would add body without overwhelming the flavour. |
| James |
I'd second gooseberry. Make a nice rose maybe.
Bilberry skins are quite astringent- I'd imagine there's lots of tannin in them, so maybe a short fermentation on the pulp (perhaps do the goosegogs first, then add the bilberries after a day or two). |
| sally_in_wales |
I like the sound of gooseberry with it, maybe get two gallons out of the mixture that way too |
| gil |
Think I'll give the gooseberries a whirl to bulk out the bil/blueberries. In a week or so. |