“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”
― W.C. Fields

This year I will make twelve country wines. Each wine is loosely based on the wine calendar in the classic British book, First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J. Berry. I do, however, plan to freely substitute ingredients based on the principle that most should be available either on the farm or from a neighbor. Next year I will gather friends and taste each one and share the results with you.

Cheers, Brian

It may be true that “fine words butter no parsnips”. But this month we gather to find out if these roots can turn out a respectable sherry. Will it become a fine Amontillado worthy of enticing an enemy into a cellar during Carnival? Or shall it be consigned to my still (that is, if I owned one) to produce some oddly flavored brandy?

This recipe contains many off-the-farm ingredients, including, alas, the actual parsnips. I had intended to get the roots from some friends and neighbors. But by the time holiday feasts had ended so had their supply of parsnips. So, this exercise turns out to be both expensive and a bit more commercial than intended. In a year’s time we shall see if it was all worth the effort and expense. If it was, then I am sure the recipe can be tinkered with to make it more farm friendly.

The recipe:

Parsnips (unwaxed)             4.5 lb.

Hops                                      ½ oz.

Malt extract                           ½ lb.

Light brown sugar               2.5 lb.

Citric acid                              1 tsp

Water                                     1 gallon

Yeast                                      Red Star premier cuvee

Yeast nutrient                       1 tsp

Pectic enzyme                       ½ tsp

The process:

Clean the parsnips, but do not peel. Cut them into slices and boil gently in half the water until soft. Then strain the liquid into a pot (leftover roots to the pigs). Put the hops in a bag and add to the remaining ½ gallon and simmer for a half hour. Mix the two liquids into the primary fermenter. Stir in the malt, sugar and citric acid and allow to cool to blood temperature. Add yeast, nutrient, pectic enzyme.

After 7-14 days rack the wine into a glass carboy. In 3-6 months transfer to ½ gallon jugs.

Next February we taste.

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Reading this weekend: A Cloud of Witnesses (D. Sayers). And selections from Rural Rides (W. Cobbett).