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Method of Making Gooseberry Wine

A method for fermenting gooseberries into wine using water, sugar, and potash.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Method of Making Gooseberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Extract the juice

  1. Remove blossoms and stems from the gooseberries.

  2. Bruise the gooseberries in a wooden tub without crushing the seeds.

  3. Dilute the bruised gooseberries with 4 gallons of water.

  4. Let the mixture sit for 10-12 hours.

  5. Strain the mixture through a coarse canvas bag to extract the juice.

  6. Pour 1 gallon of water over the residue.

  7. Let the mixture macerate for 12 hours.

  8. Press the residue to extract the juice.

  9. Add the extracted juice to the first extraction.

Make the must

  1. Combine all the juice in a tub.

  2. Add 30 to 40 lbs of sugar.

  3. Add 1 lb of super-tartrate of potash, then stir the mixture well.

  4. Add enough water to bring the total liquid to 103 gallons.

  5. Cover the tub and let it sit in a warm place.

Ferment and cask

  1. When fermentation begins, skim off the yeasty froth.

  2. Continue skimming until the froth stops forming.

  3. Once fermentation is nearly complete, transfer the liquid to a cask.

  4. Fill the cask completely.

  5. Loosely fit the bung in place.

  6. Bore a small hole for gas release.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Gooseberries
Supply the main fruit flavour, acidity and the juice that becomes the wine.
White loaf sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and leaving residual sweetness.
Super-tartrate of potash
Adds tartness to balance the sugar and helps keep the wine's flavour clean.

The step that matters

Loosely fit the bung in place. Fermentation keeps releasing carbon dioxide gas. A tightly sealed bung can build pressure and burst the cask, so it should sit loose, with a small hole bored for gas to escape.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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