Still unforgivingly close today – so rather than a trip to the Hill, I made the most of the evening engaged in what we used to call Domestic Science at school.
First up was transferring the gooseberry wine from the bucket into the demijohn – it’s fermenting in rather a fearsome manner! The gooseberry pips sinking to the bottom conflicting with the yeast action releasing gas produce a fascinating 1970’s lava lamp effect in the demijohn.
Then I bottled May’s rhubarb wine – but made a botch of the siphoning, so I have five sealed bottles, a bottle of murk which is re-clearing upstairs & a glassful which tastes rather good actually! A little sweeter than the previous batch & light & fruity too – brill!
Tonight’s challenge was to produce redcurrant jelly at the correct consistency – i.e. set, but not rock hard. I followed the recipe in Marguerite Pattern’s Jams preserves & chutneys, supplemented by the invaluable advice with regard to times taken to reach setting point from the GYO Grapevine.
After a rolling boil for 13 minutes it looked like a set & I whipped the whole lot into hot jars & sealed, & looking at the sample left over in a dish in the fridge, I am rather optimistic…
It will be beautiful Hazel - and a drop dead gorgeous jewel colour too.
ReplyDeleteI'm drooling at the thought of Gooseberry wine ... It was a particular favourite of mine ....
ReplyDeleteI must have a go myself .... In NZ we can even distill here as long as we don't sell it ... :O)
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The camera doesn't capture the deep ruby colour very well, Flum, but it looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYou are going to have to stop messing about and liberate a small corner away from McD to fit in just a demijohn or two, Dinzie - although I'm not so sure about home distilling! I'm glad you're giving the gooseberry wine the thumbs up - another first for me here.