Hello,
I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I care
to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of using
my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts? Thanks
in advance.
Darlene
Wisconsin

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Hello,
>I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
>sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I care
>to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
>If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of using
>my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts? Thanks
>in advance.

I made a wine a long time ago from neat cucumber juice and IIRC it
turned out to be very good. I don't recall how I extracted the juice,
but peeling then freezing first, de-freezing, then adding sugar worked
very well for me recently with zucchini. Cucumber would need a flavour
boost with something like lemon, but if you are not keen on that,
possibly lime, mint or even juniper?
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Thanks Alan. Glad to hear somebody has made it before. Can you describe the
taste? just a basic white wine...? I agree on the need to boost the flavor,
and freezing the fruit/veggie before making the wine. I was leaning towards
either bananas or raisons to add body, but I appreciate the other ideas.
Darlene


"Alan Gould" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Dar V
> > writes
>>Hello,
>>I was out in my garden yesterday, and I have an abundance of cucumbers
>>sitting in my fridge right now. Having made as many sweet pickles as I
>>care
>>to make in one year, my thoughts turned to making a wine. Anyone try this?
>>If so, how was it and do you have a recipe? If not, I was thinking of
>>using
>>my zucchini wine recipe, and trying it with cucumbers - any thoughts?
>>Thanks
>>in advance.
>
> I made a wine a long time ago from neat cucumber juice and IIRC it
> turned out to be very good. I don't recall how I extracted the juice,
> but peeling then freezing first, de-freezing, then adding sugar worked
> very well for me recently with zucchini. Cucumber would need a flavour
> boost with something like lemon, but if you are not keen on that,
> possibly lime, mint or even juniper?
> --
> Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Thanks Alan. Glad to hear somebody has made it before. Can you describe the
>taste? just a basic white wine...? I agree on the need to boost the flavor,
>and freezing the fruit/veggie before making the wine. I was leaning towards
>either bananas or raisons to add body, but I appreciate the other ideas.

It was a long time ago, but IIRC the cucumber flavour held up well. At
the time, I was trying to produce a 'gin' clear wine, so I used only
sugar with no grape juice or other boosters, but in the end it looked
more like a pale sherry than gin. Somehow, I can't quite equate banana
flavour with cucumber and I would use sultanas rather than raisins, but
there's not a lot to choose between those. Is candied peel an option?

I strained my 2 gallon batch of zucchini off the mash today, spreading
the liquid equally between 3 x 1 gallon secondary fermentation vessels,
because I know it has a lot of lees in it and because it is still
fermenting vigorously. Just at the moment, it would look more at home in
a soup kitchen than in our kitchen, but hope springs eternal.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.

Darlene,

I am thinking you might want to try spicing it with just a hint of
clove and maybe some corriander and cinnamon. Just a tiny tiny tiny
bit.

Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes are in
the freezer.
Darlene

"Droopy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Darlene,
>
> I am thinking you might want to try spicing it with just a hint of
> clove and maybe some corriander and cinnamon. Just a tiny tiny tiny
> bit.
>

In article >, Dar V
> writes
>Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about while the shredded cukes are in
>the freezer.

Dar, your cukes will do very well for having been frozen, I'm certain of
that, but I am having second thoughts about its advisability with looser
fleshed zucchini. The batch I did released their juices very well after
freezing and being treated with sugar and enzyme, then the solids rose
to the top in the usual way and I gave them a good stir twice a day for
three days. After I stirred them yesterday, the 4th. day, I could see
that there had been a change in the mash. It was still fermenting
vigorously, but the solids and liquids vessels were not separating.
I could see that because my initial fermentation vessel is translucent.
I decided to strain it off immediately, but the liquid in the secondary
vessels now looks almost as though it has been cooked into a soup.

It is early days and I hope that batch of wine may come round in time,
but what I am going to do is try again without freezing, peeling or
enzyme this time. I will wash, top, tail and roughly chop the fruits,
then put them into a vessel with sugar and see what juice is extracted.
If it looks viable, I will sulphite it, then proceed in the usual way,
maybe using grape concentrate, maybe not. Fortunately we have a massive
surplus of zucchinis, so I am able to experiment.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.