In good years, the yield of cherry plum (wild plum) pleasantly surprises. From one tree you can collect up to 100 kg of fruit. One of the interesting methods of harvest processing is the preparation of homemade wine from cherry plum. For those who are interested, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the best recipe. All you need is the fruits themselves, sugar and water.
Cherry plum wine can be made from any variety: purple, red or yellow. Due to the high sugar content, red varieties and apricot cherry plum are considered the best for winemaking.
To protect the wine from infection with pathogenic microorganisms, all containers should be sterilized with boiling water, then wiped dry with a clean cloth.
Ingredients:
- cherry plum – 3 kg;
- water – 4 liters;
- sugar – 300 grams per liter of juice;
- unwashed raisins – 100 grams (optional).
Cherry plum wine recipe
1. Sort out ripe cherry plum, removing leaves, stalks, rotten and moldy berries. Do not wash the fruits, wild yeast should remain on their surface.
2. Knead the berries with your hands or a wooden rolling pin until a homogeneous liquid puree. It is very important not to crush the bones, otherwise the wine will be bitter.
3. Add raisins and water, mix well. Raisins will insure if the wild yeast on the berries is not activated.
4. Bandage the neck with gauze, put the container with diluted puree in a dark place with a temperature of 18-28°C. Stir 2-3 times a day, drowning the pulp in the juice – the surfaced skin and pulp.
5. After 2-3 days, when fermentation begins (foam appears on the surface, a sour smell, a hiss will be heard), drain the fermented juice from the sediment, squeeze the pulp through cheesecloth.
6. Pour all the juice obtained into a bottle or jar. Add 100 grams of sugar per liter of juice, mix. Fill the fermentation tank to a maximum of 3/4 of the volume so that there is room for carbon dioxide, the next portions of sugar and foam.
7. Install a water seal of any design. At home, you can get by with a small medical glove with a hole in your finger (pierce with a needle).
8. Move the container to a dark place with a temperature of 18-28°C.
After 4 days, add a second portion of sugar – 100 grams per liter of juice. To do this, drain separately 300-500 ml of the fermenting must, mix with sugar, pour the resulting syrup back into the wine and close with a water seal. After another 5-6 days, add the remaining sugar (100 grams / liter) according to the described technology.
Depending on the temperature and yeast activity, cherry plum wine ferments for 20-50 days.
If fermentation does not stop after 50 days from the start of preparation, you need to drain the wine from the sediment through a straw and put it under a water lock. This will prevent bitterness.
9. When the fermentation is over (the must will brighten, a sediment will appear at the bottom, the water seal does not blow bubbles for several days, the glove is deflated), drain the young wine from the sediment through a thin tube. Taste, if desired, sweeten with sugar or fix with vodka (alcohol) – 2-15% of the volume.
Pour the wine into containers for maturation, it is advisable to fill up to the neck so that there is no contact with oxygen. Close the cork tightly or reinstall the water seal for 7-10 days if sugar was added.
10. Transfer homemade plum wine to a dark room with a temperature of 5-16°C and leave for 30-90 days. This time is enough for the drink to become lighter and tastier.
When sediment appears in a layer of 2-5 cm (every 20-30 days), filter the wine by pouring it into another container. The drink is ready when the sediment no longer falls.
11. For more convenient storage, the wine can be bottled and tightly closed with corks. The result is homemade cherry plum wine with a rich aroma and slightly tart taste. Fortress – 11-12%. Shelf life – 3-4 years. Yield – 65-70% of the juice volume.
