Friday, 10 February 2012

Celery Wine - The Making Of ...

I may live to regret this wine. The phrase 'Celery Wine' does not summon up images of a lip-smacking paradise. However, last summer I was rung by a wine-making enthusiast who assured me that this was a successful flavour. And February is a month to experiment - it is a single batch month where nothing is in season. Perhaps, though, I should have repeated Exotic Tinned Fruit. Time will tell.

Today, 5th February, has been lovely. I did not get dressed until noon, which is always the sign of a good Sunday. Whilst I was lounging around, Claire - suffering from a hearty cough - was outside shovelling snow off our street. But she claims that she enjoyed it.

We spent the afternoon in York, eating Big Breakfast and seeing Bridget, who is spending the weekend in Terrington. Last time we saw her she was eight months pregnant. This time she is again eight months pregnant - but had Gemma in tow. Gemma is at 'delightful toddler' stage and is a mini-Bridget: red hair, blue eyes, mischevious looking.

Anyway, back at home I chopped up four pounds of celery and boiled it for thirty minutes in seven and a half pints of water. This was poured over three pounds of sugar and one tablespoon of citric acid. It is now a pale green liquid smelling of soup.


Four pounds of celery in 7.5 pints of water
I put in the yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient on Monday morning. I have not bothered to put in any pectolase as I do not thing celery is a rich source of pectin.

During the five days it has been in its bucket I have stirred the wine twice a day and each time have been surprised and pleased at the fragrance this produces. I put the wine in its demijohn on Friday night, 10th February, whilst listening to 'Any Questions' on Radio 4. This involved Anne Widdecombe and lots of shouting. It is a noisy, irritating programme. The volume of liquid I used was perfect and though the wine still looks like a nourishing broth, I am rather more hopeful about it than I was originally.

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If you want my first impressions of how it tastes, click here.

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5 comments:

  1. Carol Essery10 February 2012 at 22:18

    Well Ben sounds lovely - one spelling mistake in it - you need a good secretary lol x

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  2. Jane @ Hard Work Homestead10 February 2012 at 22:53

    Well I will be very interested in seeing how that one turns out. Looks beautiful, but I am not a fan of celery, so I wonder what the finial taste will be. You are very adventuresome. I just opened our first bottle of dandelion 2011, and it was a pleasant surprise.

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  3. Ben Hardy11 February 2012 at 11:26

    I will also be interested in this one. I haven't had a truly nasty wine for some time - so either way (unless it is simply bland) I am a winner. I will be opening my first bottle of Dandelion 2011 at the beginning of April, and I am looking forward to it. When I bottled it, the taste was better than most dandelions before. Watch this space...

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  4. Unknown12 February 2012 at 16:27

    What an interesting base for wine! Let us know how it goes...

    And I can't believe you let your poor sick wife go out to shovel snow while you were inside playing the part of lounge-lizard! lol

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  5. Ben Hardy14 February 2012 at 22:01

    Thanks Tanya - the colour is currently a delightful pale green, which I suspect it won't keep. Yes, it is shocking that I didn't help Claire out with the snow shovelling. Is it a valid excuse that we only have one snow shovel?

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