melon wine

Melon wine is a fragrant, full of taste alcoholic drink. The color is pale golden, almost amber. It is rarely produced on an industrial scale. Melon wine is especially popular in Turkey.

Secrets and nuances of making melon wine

Melons contain little acid, but the abundance of sugar is about 16%. Melon is 91% water. In addition, the pulp of the melon is fibrous, so it is quite difficult to squeeze the juice out of it so that it is transparent. But if you filter well and acidify the must with lemon or apple juice or wine additives, you get a tasty and beautiful wine.

The drink is fermented with pure wine yeast. If they cannot be obtained, they use sourdough from raisins and raspberries.

For the preparation of melon wine, only juicy, ripe and sweet fruits are used. Dessert and fortified wines are especially successful. Due to the peculiarity of the melon pulp, it is extremely difficult to obtain dry wine from it. Stronger drinks have a pronounced taste and aroma.

Before cooking, suitable fruits are peeled, seeds are removed. The pulp is cut into small pieces. Juice is squeezed out manually or with the help of special devices. The resulting liquid is filtered through a sieve or gauze. Place in a glass container and add the rest of the ingredients according to the recipe, mix thoroughly. A glove is put on the throat and left to ferment at room temperature.

The drink is filtered using a funnel into which filtered paper is placed. They taste it, if the wine is not sweet enough, add sugar.

The basic rules to be followed in the process of making wine from melon:

1. Before adding sugar, it is pre-diluted in a small amount of must.
2. All utensils used must be clean.
3. The fermentation tank is filled to 80% to leave room for gases to escape.
4. Fermentation should not be longer than 1,5 months, otherwise the wine will lose its aroma and become bitter.

How to make melon wine

Basic Recipe Ingredients:

• 11 kg of melon;
• 2 kg of fine sugar;
• 20 g of tannic acid;
• 60 g of tartaric acid.

Or:

• yeast and top dressing;
• 2 kg of sour apples or juice of five lemons.

Preparation:

1. Peel the skin off the melon, leaving only the pulp. The seeds, together with the fibers, are thoroughly cleaned. The pulp is arbitrarily cut and juice is squeezed out of it.
2. You should get about 8 liters of liquid. Yeast dissolve in heated water. Sugar, apple or lemon juice is added to melon juice. Stir.
3. The resulting wort is poured into a fermenter or bottle, yeast mixture and top dressing are added. Install a water seal or put on a glove. Leave in a warm, dark place for 10 days. When the glove deflates, the wine becomes light, and sediment appears at the bottom, the wine is drained using a thin hose.
4. Young wine is poured into a smaller container, filling it by three quarters. Place it in a dark but cool place and leave it for another 3 months. This is enough to lighten the drink. When precipitation occurs, the wine is decanted. Do this procedure during the secondary fermentation at least 3 times. Fully clarified wine is bottled and sent to the cellar to mature for six months.

A simple recipe for homemade melon wine

The right technology will allow you to get a strong, incredibly aromatic and sweet wine of a beautiful color. The addition of acids is a must. It can be special tartaric acids or apple or lemon juice.

Ingredients:

• 200 g yeast;
• 10 g of melon pulp;
• 3 kg of fine sugar;
• 2 liters of filtered water.

Preparation:

1. First of all, the starter is prepared: yeast is diluted in 300 ml of warm water.
2. The melon is washed, wiped with a napkin. The pulp is separated from the peel and cleaned from the seeds. Cut into pieces and squeeze the juice using a press or a special device.
3. Pour the fruit liquid into a glass container, add water, dissolving sugar in it. This also adds sourdough. Stir. A water seal is installed on the container.
4. Place it in a warm, dark place for a month for fermentation. As soon as the gas bubbles cease to stand out, the wine is drained from the sediment using a thin hose. Add sugar if necessary. The drink is bottled, hermetically sealed and left for another 2 months in a dark, cool room. During this time, melon wine will ripen and settle.

Turkish melon wine

The recipe involves heat treatment, so you will need to do less squeezing the juice. Turkish melon wine is prepared exclusively with pure yeast culture. Top dressing is desirable, but not necessary.

Ingredients:

• according to the instructions for yeast and top dressing;
• 5000 g melon;
• 1 l 500 ml filtered water;
• 2 lemon;
• 1750 g fine sugar.

Preparation:

1. Cut the skin off the melon. The pulp is cut into arbitrary cubes.
2. Boil water in a saucepan. Lemons are poured with boiling water, wiped, rolled with a palm on the table. Cut in half. Lemon juice is poured into water. Pour in sugar. Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved, periodically removing the foam.
3. Pieces of melon are laid out in a boiling mixture and boiled over low heat for 10 minutes, until the pulp gives up all the juice and becomes soft.
4. The mixture is cooled to a barely warm state and poured along with the pulp into the fermenter. According to the recommendations on the package, yeast and top dressing are introduced. A water seal is installed on the neck of the container.
5. After 10 days, the wine is drained from the pulp and placed in a smaller container, filling it almost to the brim. Leave in a cool dark room until completely lightened.

With the addition of raspberries

Raspberry goes well with fragrant melon. To emphasize the color, use a yellow berry.

Ingredients:

• 8 kg of ripe melon;
• 2 kg 300 g fine sugar;
• 4 kg 500 g yellow raspberries.

Preparation:

1. Raspberries are sorted out. Do not wash, but clean the melon from the peel and seeds. Cut the pulp into pieces. Berries and fruits are kneaded with hands or a rolling pin to a puree state. Place in a glass container with a wide mouth and leave for a couple of days. A dense cap of foam will form on the surface. It is precipitated by stirring the wort so that it does not become moldy.
2. After 2 days, the pulp is carefully squeezed out with a press or gauze. You should get about 10 liters of juice. Pour it into a glass bottle. Pour 2/3 of sugar into the liquid, stir and put a glove on the throat. Leave in a warm dark place. If everything is done correctly, the glove should inflate within a day.
3. Fermentation will continue for about a month. A week later, another third of the sugar is added and stirred. The remaining sweet sand is introduced after another 7 days. When the wine stops gurgling, it is drained from the sediment, poured into a smaller container and left in a cool room for re-fermentation.
4. During this time, the wine will lighten, forming a dense sediment at the bottom. It is drained through a tube at least 3 times. After 2 months, the drink is bottled, corked.

With raisins

Ingredients:

• 2 l 500 ml filtered water;
• 8 kg of prepared melon pulp;
• 300 g dry raisins;
• 2 kg yellow raspberries;
• 5 kg white sugar.

Preparation:

1. The washed melon is cut in half, the seeds are removed and the peel is cut off. The pulp is crushed in arbitrary pieces. Manually or with the help of a special device, juice is squeezed out of it.
2. Raspberries are sorted, but not washed. Lightly knead with hands and combine with melon juice.
3. Sugar is poured into warm water and stirred until dissolved. The syrup is poured into the fruit and berry mixture. Stir. Placed in a glass container for fermentation.
4. Add dry raisins and stir. A water seal is installed on the throat. The container is kept for at least a month in a dark, warm place.
5. At the end of fermentation, the wine is immediately drained and bottled. Corked with corks and left to ripen for six months.

Fortified wine

Fortified wines are high in alcohol and sugar.

Ingredients:

• 5 liters of melon juice;
• 100 g alcohol yeast;
• 2 kg fine sugar.

Preparation:

1. A juicy, ripe melon is cut into 2 parts, seeds with fibers are removed and the peel is cut off. The pulp is cut into arbitrary pieces and the juice is squeezed out of it. This can be done manually, using a juicer or a special press.
2. Yeast and sugar are dissolved in a small amount of warm boiled water. The resulting mixture is combined with melon juice. Stir and pour into a glass container.
3. The container is placed in a warm, dark place, periodically monitoring the stages of fermentation. At the end of the process, the wine is filtered, bottled, corked and sent to ripen in a cool, dark room.

Terms and conditions of storage

The shelf life of melon wine is about 2 years. After about six months, an alcoholic drink will reveal all its taste qualities.

Store wine in a dark, cool place. Ideal for this is a cellar or pantry.

Conclusion

Properly prepared melon wine will have a bright golden hue, rich taste and aroma. The drink is recommended to be consumed after aging for six months. It is during this time that all the taste qualities will be revealed in it. As an experiment, you can add berries, fruits or spices.