Dimson Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the liquid
Boil water and sugar together for 2 hours, skimming regularly.
Add pitted damsons and boil until the color is a fine red.
Ferment and age
Strain the liquid and ferment it in an open tub or pan for 4 days.
Pour the clear liquid from the lees into a clean cask.
Let it stand until fermentation is complete, then close it for 8 months.
Bottle
Bottle the wine after 8 months.
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
- Damsons
- Provide the colour, fruit flavour and acidity of the wine.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and sweetness.
The step that matters
Pour the clear liquid from the lees into a clean cask. Leaving the lees, the sediment that settles after fermentation, behind keeps it out of the wine. Left in contact, it can add off-flavours and cloudiness as it breaks down.
“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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