Simple recipes for black and red elderberry wine

What fruits and berries are used to make homemade wine? Surprisingly, but the most delicious drinks are sometimes obtained from berries that do not seem to represent any value and grow under the fence under the guise weeds... For example, elderberry wine is in no way inferior to a grape drink in its taste. But it also has pronounced medicinal properties, because all the benefits of the berries of this not-too-famous plant are concentrated in it.

Why is elderberry wine useful?

Many people know about this plant only from a well-known saying. And they absolutely do not distinguish between black and red elderberry. And yet there are also big differences. If the black elderberry is a recognized medicinal plant, from the flowers and berries of which various preparations are prepared for the winter, then the berries of the red elderberry contain frankly toxic substances. And making wine from red elderberry is not recommended.

Black elderberry berries have a rich and well-balanced composition of various useful substances for humans: vitamins, minerals, catecholamines, tannins, essential oils and various acids.

Black elderberry wine will be very useful for:

• migraines, insomnia and nervous disorders;
• atherosclerosis;
• diabetes mellitus, since it has the ability to lower blood sugar;
• pancreatitis;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• a variety of viral and colds.

Judging by the reviews, black elderberry wine can help increase the amount of milk during lactation, and also have a tonic and tonic effect during depression, loss of strength and exacerbation of seasonal infections.

Elderberry Wine Making Secrets

There are several basic ways to make black elderberry wine at home. To preserve absolutely all the nutrients present in the berries, wine is made from juice squeezed from raw berries. But there are nuances here. Berries in a raw state hardly give up juice due to the presence of a large amount of tannins in them.

If you use preliminary heat treatment of fruits, then the juice is squeezed out much easier. In addition, many tannins and inorganic acids become more available to the body, and the drink acquires an additional aroma. True, some vitamins disappear irretrievably during heat treatment. Therefore, both cooking methods are good - each in its own way.

It is very desirable to collect elderberries in sunny dry weather, so that the so-called "wild yeast", which is responsible for the fermentation of the drink, is preserved on them as much as possible. It is also necessary to wait until the period when the fruits are fully ripe and the juice content in them will be maximum.

A very simple black elderberry wine recipe

This recipe is considered traditional when it comes to black elderberry. According to it, the largest yield of the finished drink is obtained from the same number of berries.

You will need:

• 10 kg of black elderberry berries;
• 6 kg of granulated sugar;
• 8 liters of water;
• about 100 g of wine yeast (or raisin sourdough).

Manufacturing:

1. Black elderberries, peeled from twigs and leaves, are placed in a saucepan, pour 4 liters of water, heated to a boil and, having made the lowest heat, boil the mass for 15-20 minutes.
2. During cooking, the elderberry is gently kneaded with a wooden spoon or spatula, being careful not to crush the bones.
3. Cool the resulting berry mass and grind it through a sieve.
4. The remaining pulp is poured again with 2 liters of boiling water and, covered with a lid, left in this form until it cools.
5. Filter the resulting infusion, discard the cake. And the first and second decoctions are combined together.
6. At the same time, syrup is gradually prepared from the remaining two liters of water and all the sugar. When it acquires uniformity, mix it with both broths.
7. The whole berry mass is cooled to room temperature, wine yeast or raisin sourdough is added.
8. It is poured into a vessel, on which a water seal is placed or an ordinary rubber glove with a hole in one finger is put on.
9. The vessel is placed in a warm place (+ 22-25 ° C) for 5 to 14 days for the initial vigorous fermentation.
10. At the end, the drink must be carefully drained from the sediment through a tube and poured into bottles, filling them almost completely.
11. The bottles are tightly closed, they are placed in a cool place for two months for "quiet" fermentation.
12. After that, the wine can be tasted, previously removed from the sediment, and poured into other bottles for permanent storage.
13. The final taste and aroma will appear in the wine after several months of storage.

Fragrant elderflower wine

Elderberry flowers are also great for making homemade wine. They will give the finished wine an unimaginable aroma and a completely different taste than berries.

You will need:

• 10 inflorescences of black elderberry;
• 4 liters of water;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• 1 medium lemon (or 6-7 g citric acid);
• 100 g unwashed raisins (or wine yeast).

Manufacturing:

1. Syrup is boiled from water and half of the sugar for 3-4 minutes, be sure to remove the resulting foam.
2. Flowers are washed in cold water.
3. Pour elderberry flowers with hot syrup, add finely chopped lemon along with the peel, but without seeds.
4. Mix thoroughly, cool to room temperature under a lid.
5. Add yeast or raisins, cover with gauze and leave in a warm place without light (+ 20-26 ° C) to start the fermentation process. Once a day, the liquid must be stirred with a wooden stick.
6. After a few days, the semi-finished wine product is filtered through cheesecloth, squeezed well.
7. Pour into a container convenient for fermentation, install a water seal or a glove and place it again in the same conditions.
8. After 5 days, add the remaining 500 g of sugar. Pour 500 ml of wort, dissolve sugar in it and pour it back again, not forgetting to install a water seal.
9. After 2-3 weeks, fermentation should end. Wine is poured into bottles, tightly sealed and left to rise for another 2-3 weeks in an already cool place without light.

The strength of the resulting drink will be about 10-12%.

Elderberry and Lemon Wine Recipe

Roughly the same technology is used to make homemade wine from black elderberry berries with lemon.

And the ratio of the components will need approximately the following:

• 3 kg of black elderberry;
• 1 kg of granulated sugar;
• 3 liters of water;
• 1 lemon;
• About 10 grams of yeast (or raisins).

How to make spiced elderberry wine

Using the same principle, a very aromatic elderberry wine with spices is prepared.

You will need:

• 3 kg of black elderberry;
• 1 kg of granulated sugar;
• 2 liters of water;
• 1 lemon or grapefruit;
• 3-5 carnation buds;
• a few sticks of cinnamon;
• 8-12 g yeast.

Manufacturing:

1. To prepare the wort, the elderberry is covered with sugar, mixed and left for several hours to form juice.
2. Then pour 2 liters of boiling water, place on the fire, add all the spices and simmer over the slowest heat for about a quarter of an hour after boiling with active stirring.
3. Cool, add lemon juice and yeast. Covering with gauze, put in a warm place to start fermentation.
4. In the future, the technology of making wine is absolutely similar to the one described above.

How to make elderberry wine with honey

Since the healing properties of honey completely disappear when it is heated, here is a classic recipe for making homemade wine from raw elderberries.

For 3 liters of black elderberry juice, you only need 2 glasses of liquid honey. No additional ingredients are required for this recipe.

Elderberry juice is obtained in the following way:

1. The berries are sorted out, removing plant debris, but not washed.
2. Grind in a puree using a juicer, meat grinder or press and squeeze the juice, for example, through cheesecloth.
3. The remaining pulp is poured with water so that it covers all the berries, and left to infuse in a warm place for 5 hours.
4. Then the pulp is squeezed out again, and the resulting infusion is mixed with the initially squeezed juice.

Further, the cooking technology is not much different from the already familiar one. The juice is well mixed with liquid honey and placed in a warm place to start the fermentation process.

The very basic fermentation process with a water seal can last from 2 to 4 weeks. It is recommended to soak young wine before drinking for 2-3 months.

As a medicine, black elderberry wine is taken at 100 g per day.

How to store elderberry wine

Store homemade elderberry wine in tightly closed bottles in a cool room without exposure to sunlight. A basement or cellar is best suited for these purposes. In such conditions, the wine can be stored for 2-3 years.

Conclusion

Elderberry wine, prepared at least once according to one of the recipes described above, will surely become a favorite drink in the family, which, in combination, will also act as a medicine.

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