Gooseberry Wine to Resemble Champagne
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Select gooseberries that are full grown but not ripe.
Discard unsound or bruised fruit.
Place the selected fruit in a clean tub.
Bruise the fruit without breaking the seeds.
Add 4 gallons of water.
Stir until the juice and pulp separate from the seeds and skins.
Let the mixture rest for 6 to 24 hours.
Strain through a coarse bag, applying force.
Make the must
Dissolve 30 pounds of sugar in the strained juice.
Add water to make 11 gallons.
Add 3 ounces of tartar.
Cover the tub with a blanket and board.
Keep at 55°F to 60°F for 24 hours to 2 days for fermentation.
Transfer the mixture into a fermentation cask.
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
- Provide the fruit, juice and pulp that form the base of the wine.
- Loaf sugar
- Supplies the sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol, and adds sweetness.
- Tartar (crude)
- Adds acidity, which brightens flavour and supports a clean fermentation.
The step that matters
Keep the fermentation temperature between 55°F and 60°F. Yeast works best within a moderate temperature range. Running too warm can stress yeast and produce off flavours, while running too cool slows fermentation and invites spoilage.
“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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