Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Homemade Gooseberry Wine


                                                        Tastespotted , Foodgawked



Amla or nellikka wine needs no introduction to a Malayalee as it is a common and simple delicacy, brewed at almost all the Christian houses of central Kerala for years during the festival seasons of Easter, Christmas or otherwise.
This had been a recipe which I had wanted to share with you for such a long time and here we go...

Nellikka / Gooseberry Wine (without yeast)
Recipe courtesy- Seba, one of my closest pals in town.

Yield - Three 750 ml wine bottles, +/-

Get ready with:-
Gooseberry / Amla / Nellikka- 1 kg
Sugar- 1kg
Water- 1 litre


 Preparation of the sugar syrup.
Mix sugar and water to a rolling boil in a saucepan. Switch off stove. Cool down the syrup to room temperature. Strain to remove any impurities. Keep aside.

Preparation of the berries.
Wash the gooseberries well in running water. Spread on a kitchen towel and wipe them one by one completely dry with a clean and dry piece of cloth.

Assembly
Layer the them in a dry, clean sundried bharani (which I had used in one of the pickle recipes )or the traditional earthen pot. Pour the cooled sugar syrup over the berries in the bharani. Close the bharani with its loose lid with a cloth tied around the mouth.

Fermentation
 Stir the mixture everyday with a wooden ladle. If you happen to see a fungal layer on top, which is unusual but may happen for beginners, skim /discard carefully from the surface.
The wine needs to ferment for 21 days.
Strain the mixture using a clean and dry muslin cloth. Retain the berries after liquid part has passed through. Transfer a few at a time to a broad and deep metal sieve and extract the pulp gently from them. You might find them soft as soaked in the wine or a few may be broken too. Discard the remains.

Colouring the wine by caramelising.
The wine thus filtered has a light amber colour or the colour of  tears, to be precise!
Caramelising is done to add the colour of the final wine to improve the looks, making it look sexier ;)

 Sugar- 1 cup
 Hot water -1/2-3/4 cup

Place a clean dry wok on medium fire. Transfer sugar to it and stir continuously till it melts and acquires a golden brown- reddish brown hue. burn. Now, add  hot water to this syrup (take care and stay a little away while doing this as it bubbles up) little by little and mix well. There would be lumps at this stage but you can see the colour getting deepened to a more reddish brown colour. Return to low heat and melt them completely by a gentle simmer. The syrup should not boil much or thicken (as a thick syrup doesn't blend with the wine). Cool and add this whole syrup to the wine. Combine well.
The wine would have attained a beautiful deep red colour, now.
Aging of wine enhances the taste and improves the colour.

Check also Swapna's recipe where the uncaremelised wine had acquired its hue naturally as a result of aging!





Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages" -- Louis Pasteur
                  

13 comments:

  1. the first pic is so lovely sis! btw, i want this wine when i am home next, ok chacko? :D

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  2. these wine looks very nice..i love the clicks..

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  3. Gorgeous pics....gooseberry wine is new to me, sounds interesting

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  4. Finger licking...
    bangalorewithlove.com

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  5. Pics are so good,..:) happy festival,..

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  6. When are you calling me home to taste it Bharathy, the pic is excellent

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  7. nice pics and nice blog... first time here.. following you :)
    Noel collections

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  8. Nice 2 hear nags saying "Okay Chacko" as this phrase is commonly used in our home n this is the first time that i am hearing somebody else using this :))) (must be the kottayam effect as I hail from kottayam too, right?)

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  9. Simply superb………..marvelous….
    hyderabadonnet.com

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  10. Hi Bharathy ,

    Now only i saw your oldest posts.

    Very nice to see.

    I want to prepare this because this is goosberry season.

    Easily get in the market

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  11. U r adding 1 litter water and the output yield is three 750ml bottles which is equal to 2.25 litter?? Lol it's impossible.

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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