cab
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Herb and Flower WinesI just bashed out the first half of an article on herb and flower wines. It now needs some recipes added, I thought I'd incude recipes for, say, half a dozen or so different wines.
Any requests?
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Treacodactyl
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Do you have any that only require flowers? I'm often disappointed with recipes that take a few flowers or fruit and add two lemons, two oranges and a few pounds of sultanas.
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jema
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Here is a daft question on elderflower wine, if I grab the flowers am I effecting the elderberry crop?
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Sarah D
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Yes, the crop is affected; each flower has the potential to becmoe a berry, so a tree must never be stripped of flowers, or there will be no berries for the birds or the wine making.
The reason dried fruit is added to herb and flower wines is to add body to the wine;: it would be very thin and lacking without it, also the citrus fruit. Not worth making without the additions, I think.
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cab
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jema wrote: | Here is a daft question on elderflower wine, if I grab the flowers am I effecting the elderberry crop? |
Kind of. It's like pruning out the ends of gooseberry shoots like many people do, you've got less fruit but you're aiming at an earlier and better crop. For most of us the elder is so plentiful that it doesn't matter.
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cab
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Treacodactyl wrote: | Do you have any that only require flowers? I'm often disappointed with recipes that take a few flowers or fruit and add two lemons, two oranges and a few pounds of sultanas. |
You can make a flower or herb wine without extra fruit but you might be lacking in body. I'll include a trick for getting around that. As for citrus, you do need to get a bit of acid in; lemon juice or citric acid is pretty damned useful.
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jema
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cab wrote: | jema wrote: | Here is a daft question on elderflower wine, if I grab the flowers am I effecting the elderberry crop? |
Kind of. It's like pruning out the ends of gooseberry shoots like many people do, you've got less fruit but you're aiming at an earlier and better crop. For most of us the elder is so plentiful that it doesn't matter. |
It is pretty plentiful here, but I think I'd rather keep it that way ....
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Blacksmith
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Just off to pick some gorse flowers, was going to use Berrys recipie
unless you know of a better one ?
Dave
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cab
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Blacksmith wrote: | Just off to pick some gorse flowers, was going to use Berrys recipie
unless you know of a better one ?
Dave |
No, Berrys recipe is a good one for gorse. In fact I don't think I've been unsatisfied with any recipe in his classic book.
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cab
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jema wrote: |
It is pretty plentiful here, but I think I'd rather keep it that way .... |
Elder is a weed. In most places you no more need to worry about affecting its numbers than you have to worry about picking dandelions. I pull up elder seedlings a dozen times a year in my garden, and the neares elder tree is fifty yards away!
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jema
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cab wrote: | jema wrote: |
It is pretty plentiful here, but I think I'd rather keep it that way .... |
Elder is a weed. In most places you no more need to worry about affecting its numbers than you have to worry about picking dandelions. I pull up elder seedlings a dozen times a year in my garden, and the neares elder tree is fifty yards away! |
I was referring more to keeping the berries plentiful
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moggins
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You just can't kill elder off, every year I have to cut down the one that grows right in front of my back gate and the one that is growing through my lean to wall is very annoying but quite pretty
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farmwoody
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On this subject does anyone know exactly how much a quart is? As in take a quart of flowers......
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Sarah D
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A quart of flwoers or leaves is a two pint jug filled so that, lightly pressed, the level of the flowers or leaves or whatever reaches the quart/two pint mark.
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Bugs
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cab wrote: | Blacksmith wrote: | Just off to pick some gorse flowers, was going to use Berrys recipie
unless you know of a better one ?
Dave |
No, Berrys recipe is a good one for gorse. In fact I don't think I've been unsatisfied with any recipe in his classic book. |
Berrys? I beg'pardon, wossat?
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jema
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Bugs wrote: | cab wrote: | Blacksmith wrote: | Just off to pick some gorse flowers, was going to use Berrys recipie
unless you know of a better one ?
Dave |
No, Berrys recipe is a good one for gorse. In fact I don't think I've been unsatisfied with any recipe in his classic book. |
Berrys? I beg'pardon, wossat? |
Mr CJ Berry of First steps in wine making fame
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cab
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Bugs wrote: |
Berrys? I beg'pardon, wossat? |
CJJ Berry. He wrote some really nice old wine making books that are still as near to being the standard text as there is in coutry wine making. His 'First Steps in Winemaking' is very influential.
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Bugs
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Cheers chaps. I don't think we have that one, I'll look out for it.
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jema
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Bugs wrote: | Cheers chaps. I don't think we have that one, I'll look out for it. |
There are a lot of recipes in some of his books, but I think we now cover most of the information on site
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Blacksmith
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Just finished !Picked 2 large sandwich boxes of gorse flowers
this afternoon ( insert second-hand dartboard joke here)
thought as i'm in a wine making mood i'd buy some parsnips as well !
so a gallon of each now on the go......with an option of larger quantities if this lot turns out ok.
Anyone else use the 5l plastic water bottles as cheap demi johns ?
87p each, just make a hole in the top to take the bung and bubbler.
Dave.
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farmwoody
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Thanks Sarah, I never quite knew how to measure a quart of flowers!
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alison
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Bugs wrote: | Cheers chaps. I don't think we have that one, I'll look out for it. |
http://s1.amazon.co.uk/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y06Y2786577Y4357875/026-1862278-6364455
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