Kelly Wambach

Growin’ up in my neck of the woods wine came in gallon jugs stored under the kitchen sink. No fancy bottles, no fancy labels and no fancy prices. The jugs were brought out only on holidays or when company stopped in for a visit. Empty apple cider vinegar jugs and maybe an empty Mogen David wine bottle received as a gift were the bottles of choice.
Dad was usually in charge of the wine since it was strictly his project. Drop in visitors en-joyed a hefty snort of rhubarb, chokecherry or red beet wine poured into a water glass. For the holidays mom had some say and the good wine glasses were set on her table and a respectable portion was poured for everyone including herself and
the youngsters who enjoyed a tamed down version cut with some 7-UP. As if it wasn’t sweet enough! The wines were always sweet. No such thing as a dry wine.
Dad made his wine in a huge Red Wing crock that was borrowed from my aunt Gertie in ex-change for a jug or two of finished product. No fancy equipment needed, just Gertie’s crock.
The recipe and process to the best of my knowledge was basically the same no matter what kind of wine he was making. Dad would harvest the main ingredient then wash and crush it a bit and place in Gertie’s crock with sugar, raisins, sliced oranges and yeast. He’d give it a good stir then cover it with a clean dish towel and leave the rest to mother nature.
I do remember him straying once and only once from his usual method. He prepared the wine recipe and bottled immediately. He placed a balloon over the top of each bottle. The thought being that when the balloon inflated and then deflated the wine was done fermenting and ready for capping. He then lined up a dozen or so jugs on shelves in the garage. After a day or so of fermenting the balloons inflated and blew up covering everything with sweet sticky wine. From then on it was back to the method he knew best.
After a few conversations with dad and a recipe for dandelion wine I found in an old 1940s newspaper I have managed to come up with this relatively simple recipe that has worked for me for years.
Always use a clean container made of glass, crock, or food safe plastic. If you’re using fruit such as rhubarb, plum, grapes etc. give the fruit a slight crush. Just enough to open the fruit. Do not smash it. If you’re using beets slice them in about 1/4 inch slices, cover with water just enough to cover the beets and boil until tender. About 20 minutes. Use this liquid in the recipe adding or subtracting water to make the required amount. If you experiment with flowers such as dandelions or lilacs use just the flower heads. No stems or leaves. Be sure to double check to make sure that the flowers you are using are edible.
Country Wine
2 quarts of fruit, packed flowers or vegetables such as beets
4 quarts of boiling water
4 pounds of sugar
2 sliced lemons peel on
2 sliced oranges peel on
4 cups raisins roughly chopped
1 package of dry yeast
1 piece of white toasted bread
Mix fruit, flowers or vegetables, sugar, oranges, lemons and raisins into your clean container. Be sure it’s large enough to allow for expansion during the fermenting time. I use a five gallon food safe plastic pail. Pour the boiling water over this and stir well. Allow to cool to room Temperature. After cooling float one piece of well toasted white bread on top and pour on your packet of yeast. Cover container with cloth. To keep your wine working store at a room temperature of about 65 to 75 degrees. After two days remove the toast as best you can and stir well. Stir daily for two more days then strain through a cheese cloth back into your container. Keep covered with cloth. Allow to ferment stirring once daily until all BUBBLES STOP coming to the top! About two weeks. Strain again and bottle into jars or bottles loosely covered for another few days to make sure fermentation has stopped. Tighten lids and place in a cool dark place for several months for the best tasting wine. There will be some sediment in your bottles after resting. No worries.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. Try substituting your sweetener with some honey or brown sugar. Add a little spice if you like. Ginger, cloves, cinnamon etc.
Have some fun with different fruits, vegetables and edible flowers. Believe it or not the next wine I’m going to try is tomato!
Ferment some fruit, cook up a memory and remember the most important ingredient in a recipe is the memory it conjures.