In sweetening wine with honey, the main thing is not to rush. Be confident in what you are doing. You can always add more honey, but you can’t get it back. This is true of just about anything you mix with alcohol to change the taste.
wine cocktails
What you need to know before mixing wine with honey
Why honey and not sugar?
In fact, honey will sweeten wine just as well as sugar. The principle of operation is the same. Depending on what the bees used to make their honey: wild flowers, cherries, buckwheat, etc., flavor notes and aromas can range from herbal and fruity to citrus. Perhaps you will like it, or maybe the wine will seem unbearable. Don’t think that honey will make the wine better. Try it on a small amount and see. Sweeten gradually and take notes on the taste.
Honey selection advice
It is better to add linden, floral May harvest or acacia, because it will not greatly affect the taste. Honey from heather and chestnuts will be bitter, from sunflower it will add astringency, from buckwheat – caramel tones, but will reduce the purity of the drink.
In order not to be mistaken, add honey when you prepare sweetened, fortified and liqueur drinks. There are few dry ingredients in the juice, so the caramel will play interestingly.
If you cook semi-dry, dry wines with apples, grapes, cherries, then it is better to prefer sugar.
Nuance about sugar and honey
Instead of 1 kg of sugar, you need to use 1,2 kg of honey, because on average it contains 76,8% sugar. This is sample data. For more specific ones, you should refer to the hydrometer-saccharometer.
A volume of 0,6 liters will contain 1 kg of sugar, and a kilogram of honey will need 0,893 liters. You need to take into account the difference if you lower the acidity with juice or water and subtract.
Prepare
Heat the honey without boiling (maximum temperature 50 degrees) to get rid of substances that will harm the wine. These include pathogenic bacteria, residual elements of foundation, waxy smell emanating from them, protein compounds, preservatives, acids.
honey wine recipe
Ingredients
Honey – 220 ml
Water – 220 ml
Wine – 1 l
Method of preparation
Thoroughly mix honey and water in equal amounts in a saucepan.
Bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat, skim off the foam constantly until the mixture is no longer cloudy.
Set the gas to the minimum value, do not remove until the water has almost completely evaporated.
Remove the drink from the stove, leave to cool at room temperature.
Filter with gauze folded in several layers.
Mix with wine. The amount depends on the individual recipe. Keep in refrigerator.
Relevance: 28.04.2020
Tags: wine and vermouth