When I initially sliced the medlars and put them into my bucket, I was not at all sure that things would turn out well. This was at least in part because these curious fruits are not especially pleasing to the eye but also the smell reminded me of tasting a freshly picked one; YUCK!
However, after 5 days soaking in water with half the sugar added, the juice smelt quite tasty; although it still looked distinctly unappealing. I skimmed off the brown fruit pulp and then strained the murky liquid through a jelly bag.
The resultant juice now magically changed colour, turning a soft pastel yellow. In the interest of science, I tasted some - it was pearesque and quite delicious; I swear you could have bottled and sold it just as it was.
I was here to make wine though, so I added the remaining sugar and the yeast and decanted it into a demijohn. Within a couple of hours the pale and interesting medlar wine was bubbling away enthusiastically next to the unpretentious crab apple.
Hi Alan, I am about to embark on a little medlar processing and subsequent mead making myself and wonder if you used any enzymes to break down pectine and starch into sugars.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you have some processing tips for me ?
How did the mead turn out in the end?
regards, Sander Tel.
Hi Sander
ReplyDeleteI used pectin (pectic enzyme) to help with clearing. This worked well and the wine ended up a fine peach colour. I had a first glass last night while making a new batch, it was actually quite subtle (for my wine efforts) and smelled more medicinal than it tasted. The Head Chef never likes my country wines but I always make her taste them; she will cook with my cider though and even drink it occasionally ;-)
With the new load, for this year, the fruits were well bletted (further gone than last time) and completely brown inside - it looked ghastly in the bucket but actually smelled lovely - I'm using the same recipe as it was OK last time.
I have not yet tried mead, but I like the idea of it.
Let me know how you get on.