Gooseberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Select green gooseberries just before they ripen, avoiding bruised or small berries.
Prepare the fruit as for a tart, then bruise in small quantities without crushing the seeds.
Pour warm water over the bruised fruit, squeeze and stir until all pulp is removed from skins and seeds.
Cover the mixture closely for 24 hours, then strain through a coarse bag, pressing to extract all juice.
Ferment
Add sugar to the juice and stir until dissolved.
Cover and let it ferment in a warm place for 1-2 days.
Transfer the liquid to clean casks, leaving space for scum to rise, and keep filled with reserved must.
When fermentation ceases, plug the casks upright, fill if necessary, and loosely place the bungs.
After a few days, when fermentation slows, drive the bungs tight and make a spill-hole.
Rack and age
In November or December, on a clear day, rack the wine from its lees into clean casks rinsed with brandy.
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
- Green gooseberries
- Provide the tart juice and the fruit flavour that the wine is built on.
- Warm water
- Helps draw pulp and juice out of the fruit skins and seeds.
- Lump sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The step that matters
Strain only after the 24-hour cover. Leaving the pulp to steep for the full 24 hours lets flavour and juice release from the skins, while keeping the mixture covered limits contamination and oxidation before fermentation begins.
“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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