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Raisin Wine

A fermented wine made from raisins, water, and isinglass, aged for a year.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Raisin Wine

Raisin Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the must

  1. Boil the water and let it cool.

  2. In a cask, layer the raisins and water alternately until full.

  3. Lightly lay the bung in and stir the mixture every day or two.

  4. Keep the cask full by adding boiled cold water.

Ferment and age

  1. Once fermentation ceases, seal the cask tightly and leave it untouched for a year.

  2. After a year, transfer the wine to a clean cask.

Fine the wine

  1. Fine the wine with isinglass tied in a muslin bag and suspended in the liquid.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide the sugar and fruit flavour that ferment into the wine's alcohol and body.
Isinglass
Collects suspended particles so the wine clears as it settles.

The step that matters

Keep the cask full with boiled cold water. Topping up keeps air out of the cask, so the surface does not oxidise or spoil while fermentation continues. Boiling the water first reduces unwanted microbes that could sour the wine.

“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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