ORANGE WINE

ORANGE WINE

Peel the oranges very carefully; cut the pulp across, and squeeze by hand or use a citrus juicer, to express all the juice. To one gallon of this juice, add seven quarts of soft water, and eleven pounds of brown sugar. Mix the orange juice water and sugar together, and strain. A five or ten-gallon keg, or large non-reactive container may be used, according to quantity of juice. Fill the vessel to the brim, reserving to every five-gallon vessel two bottles of "must," or fresh juice, (as prepared,) to supply the waste of fermentation. When no more fermentation can be detected, lay a bag containing about a pound of sand on the mouth of the container. After a couple of months, cork or bung the vessel loosely, wrapping a cloth around the cork, and drawing it out occasionally, to let off the accumulated gas. As soon as the weather becomes cold, cork tightly; rack off in February, on a cold day, to another vessel, or into bottles, and—drink! Sweet Orange Wine is made in precisely the same manner, using only eight, instead of eleven pounds of sugar. Hints On Wine Making. No juice is capable of being converted into sound durable wine that does not contain sugar enough to supply the alcohol needed to make it keep. If the juice is not sweet, sugar must be added. Many of the juices are sufficiently uniform to make the scale and the measure serve for ordinary purposes. Among these are the juices of the common Chickasaw plum, the blackberry, dewberry, muscadine, and common wild bunch grapes. In ordinary seasons, one gallon of the juice of either of the above named fruits, one quart of water and three pounds of good sugar, properly managed, will make good wine. In extraordinary seasons, when there is much rain, the juice of fruits are poor comparatively, and need more sugar. A sacharometer should be used in these cases. No mixture will make good wine that does not contain sugar enough to float a fresh egg sufficiently high to show an area of approximately 2 inches. Allow strained juice to remain in an open tub for thirty-six hours, after which the container must be filled to the brim and treated as directed for the orange wine. It is a great improvement to allow the gases to excape through a bent tube or siphon routed through a container of water to prevent the return of the air. When the gas ceases to bubble up through the water, the wine is done. Most of these wines will be fit for use in two months, but will not be well aged and excellent for another year. Submitted by: The Rural Carolinian * cooks.com