It is St David's Day, and Radio 3 has mostly been playing things with Bryn Terfel singing. I know this because I have been spending a great deal of time in the kitchen getting sticky.
As with many previous years, the beginning of March coincides with Orange Wine. This year, though, I bought my oranges on the last day of February. Irritatingly, Noshis were selling them at their most expensive - five for a pound. I had hoped for six. This means that I have spent 80p more in getting 24 oranges than I had wanted, and that works out at nearly seven pence a bottle. All I can say is that I hope this orange wine is particularly good.
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| I was quite proud of this pyramid, but Aggie was disdainful |
Between my eighth and ninth oranges, Anne Hignell dropped in and we had a very pleasant hour and a half catching up with her and getting news of the extended family. I then squeezed all oranges, getting about 3½ pints of juice. This went into the bucket, along with 5½ lbs sugar, 9 pints of cold water, the yeast and a teaspoon each of pectolase and nutrient. The next day, after work, I poured in the water that had been covering the peel and threw the peel away.
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| Orange peel in water, after 24 hours |
Friday would have been the ideal time to put this in its demijohns, but I wouldn't have had time because I was walking home from work and it was Book Group. So I did this on Thursday 5th March. It was quick work, taking about 15 minutes. I could have put in an extra half pint of water and will top up the demijohns when the fermentation has slowed. In the meantime, they are a violent yellow.
If you want a recipe, set out in a more organised fashion than my witterings above, click here
If you want to see how this wine turned out, click here.
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