Would a nut wine work?

[BrewBoy]

Round my way it looks like I'm going to have lots of Hazelnuts. I would like to attempt to make a wine out of them, would this be possible? Any ideas for a recipe?

 

[Moley]

:hmm: I don't think I've ever seen any recipe for any sort of nut wine.

There could be a good reason for that :sick:

In “First Steps” CJJB has listed ingredients which would be poisonous or doubtful, but that lists a lot of flowers, a few berries, and (as you would probably expect) avoid fungi.

Horsechestnut is in the ‘poisonous’ category but that doesn't say if it's the leaves or the conkers.

I've just looked up hazelnuts on Wikipedia, there are plenty used in the food industry and in confectionery, I didn't realise they were quite such a multivitamin, but the thing which would concern me is the 60% fat content.

 

[Damsonite]

I don't have a recipe to hand but I know that raisins, lemons and oranges and amylase come into the scheme of things somewhere. I've never made the stuff but knew someone who did it regularly and apparently the trick is to get the hazelnuts just as they've turned from being a green kurnel to an actual nut so that the flavour's at it's max and they're also still soft enough to mash or mince up without powdering. That'd be a case of checking them each day during a fairly prolonged period of good weather when they're in season and I was also told that a good indicator for picking time is when the rowanberries on nearby trees turn completely red, though to be honest I think that'd depend on the type of rowan - if you're in the country, best bet is probably to watch what the local squirrels are doing - they know the best time...

Re the fat content, not sure about the method involved but perhaps boiling/simmering the nuts in a bag to infuse a resultant liquor and then the amylase added later might deal with that?

 

[Moley]

I was also told that a good indicator for picking time is when the rowanberries on nearby trees turn completely red

Personally, I think I would leave the nuts and pick the rowanberries instead.

Thanks for another good post though Damsonite :thumb:

 

[Damsonite]

Or, one could be alternative and pick/mix 'em together to make a nute rose...lob some magic mushrooms in and bob's yer uncle. Sorry, guess I've been listening to too much Glastonbury ;-)

Ed: .."nute" = nut...or perhaps nuke :twisted:

 

[Steve k]

...lob some magic mushrooms in

......funny you should mention this, I knew a guy who made some cannabis wine. The effects were similar to funny mushrooms. :whistle: ....or so i'm lead to believe :whistle:

Steve

 

[oldbloke]

...lob some magic mushrooms in

......funny you should mention this, I knew a guy who made some cannabis wine. The effects were similar to funny mushrooms. :whistle: ....or so i'm lead to believe :whistle:

Steve

37yrs ago I knew an idiot who replaced the hops in a homebrew with weed, found it was vile (prolly stuffed up the rest of the brew process too anyway) so tried to distil it a bit. Stuffed that up too. (a) It was vile (b) he managed to lose the cannabinoids somewhere along the line (c) I think he lost most of the alcohol too.

 

[screamlead]

You can use almonds for wine CJJ Berry has a recipe for that in the book. Like someone mentioned best to gt the freshest you can. I knock them off the tree here and they are really fresh not like the shop bought stuff that is probably 12months old. Easy way to get the skins off - drop them in boiling water for 4 mins then cool under cold tap and the skins just peel off real easy.
I have also heard of tapping a walnut tree fro the sap in march and wine made from that too - not tried that yet - my neighbor has a massive wallnut tree in his garden - so maybe next year??

 

[BrewBoy]

While I think I know what a Rowan tree looks like I would be a bit worried about having the berries as, subconsciously, I still think that all red berries will kill me. Same for Haws.

I might make up a recipe for this nut wine idea. It’s not like it will cost much money if it goes wrong.

 

[graysalchemy]

The old elderberries are easy enough to identify and make a lovely red wine :thumb: :thumb:

 

[BrewBoy]

The old elderberries are easy enough to identify and make a lovely red wine :thumb: :thumb:

I’m planning an elderberry wine. I have heard that they are mildly poisonous when raw. Is there any truth in this or is it rumour?

 

[Damsonite]

...subconsciously, I still think that all red berries will kill me. Same for Haws.

Best go careful with those ripe cherries, then... :whistle:

Actually Rowan's very easy to ID, though in the UK you'll find red, orange and hybridized white varieties.
The former two are as bitter as hell (much like some other types of fruit until you add sugar); the latter most likely *would* do you some harm, but at the worst, seriously aching limbs from running to the loo... The reds are common in the wild and fruit from the early Autumn onwards, the orange ones (semi-ornamental) are often seen planted along city roads and seem to fruit a bit earlier dependent on southern or northern location and the white ones (full ornamental) are more likely restricted to folks' gardens and very occasionally, public parks and tend not to bear full fruit until October, so foraging in the countryside on a warm sunny September day makes ID reasonably certain so long as you know what the leaves look like...and whilst you're at it, yes, get those elderberries, sloes, damsons, blackberries, bilberries, crab apples, etc., etc. :party: