MAIZE WINE

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 lb. crushed maize

3 1⁄2 lb. Demerara sugar

4 sweet oranges

1 gallon water

1 lb. raisins

1 lemon

Yeast; yeast nutrient

Method:

Despite the amount of sugar, this will make a medium wine, and there are many

similar recipes which advocate up to as much as even 4 1⁄2 lb. sugar, so if you prefer a

sweet wine you can well exceed the normal 3 1⁄2 lb. limit in this case. It is a help to soak

the maize overnight in some of the water to soften it, and then, when you come to make

your wine, run it through a coarse mincer, together with the raisins. Peel the lemon and

oranges, being careful to miss the white pith, and put the rinds into a crock with the sugar,

maize, raisins, and the juice of the fruits. Pour over the ingredients the water, which need

be only hot (not boiling) add one crushed Campden tablet, and stir well to dissolve it and

the sugar. Allow the liquor to cool to 70 degrees F., then add the yeast and yeast nutrient

and keep the crock in a warm place, closely covered, for 10 days, stirring well each day.

Then strain into fermenting jar or bottle and fit fermentation trap.

PRUNE WINE

Ingredients:

2 lbs. prunes

1⁄2 lb. raisins

3 1⁄2 lb. sugar

1 gallon water

Yeast; yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet

Method:

Put the prunes in a crock and cover them with the water, mashing and stirring

them daily for 10 days. Then strain, and either press the pulp or squeeze it by hand to

extract as much juice and flavour as possible. Add the sugar, chopped raisins, and a

crushed Campden tablet, and stir to dissolve. Then add the yeast and yeast nutrient and

leave to ferment in a warm place, as usual, for 10 days. Keep the crock closely covered

and stir daily. Then strain into fermenting jar and fit trap, and move into slightly cooler

place (about 65 degrees). After another two months the secondary ferment should be

finished and when the wine clears it should be racked off into clean bottles.

RAISIN WINE

Ingredients:
8 lbs. large raisins
1 gallon water
Yeast; yeast nutrient
1 Campden tablet

Method:
Clean the raisins thoroughly by washing them in a colander, then mince through a
coarse mincer. Put them into a fermentation jar with a wide neck, pour on the cold water,
and add one crushed Campden tablet. Keep the jar covered. Two days later add the yeast
and yeast nutrient, and fit a fermentation trap to the jar. Alternatively cover the wide neck
with a sheet of polythene secured by a rubber band, which will serve the same purpose.
Keep the fermentation jar in a warm place (about 70 degrees F.) for a few days, and
afterwards in a temperature of about 65 degrees F. until the ferment has finished. Each
day give the vessel a good shake. When fermentation has finished strain the liquor off the
raisins, which can then easily be removed (hence the need for a wide-necked jar, with a
narrow-necked one it can be a fiddly business). Put into a fresh jar and leave for a further
three months before racking (siphoning the wine off the lees) again and bottling.

By using some sugar one can reduce the amount of raisins required, although the
wine will have nothing like the same body. Here is a recipe, however, using this method:
Raisin Wine (2)