I took a break from the wine making for a little while but recently I’ve been making a few batches to use up some of the fruit which wasn’t at it’s best.

One batch I did put in a demi-john had a terrific aroma: raspberry, blackcurrant with a hint of rhubarb!

It will be a long time before I find out how good it is! I was once told that as soon as you put one batch in a demi-john you should start another and here is where my unusual ingredient comes in. Have you ever heard of or tried coffee wine? I must admit it has quickly become a favourite: it’s tasty, quick to make and very cheap (sounds bad I know but it’s true!). When the harvests start becoming thin on the ground it’s a very handy stand-by.

So far this is the process I’ve done:

It will stay in the tub for about a week, getting a good stir every day, before it goes into a demi-john and I start the process with something else.

In other news: I had debated quitting the old kombucha but I was persuaded to give it one more go and by jove I think I’ve cracked it. It might not be the way most people do it but it’s how I’m going to do it because it works for us.

Usually I would leave it for a week but this time I left it for 5 days and tasted: too sweet so I put it into another jar with some squished raspberries to give flavour (thank you Chelle B from Empty Nest Homesteading for the idea). Now here is where I differ from the norm. Most folk put a good lid on to let it get fizzy then put it in the fridge. Well I have a fear of explosion so I came up with this:

It has a good thick layer of cling film on the top which allows me to see if it rises with fermentation. I tasted some and loved it so I was feeling brave and offered some to Dearest Son. He hates kombucha but he was game to try it – and he loved it too! So now, we drink flat raspberry kombucha and I can live with that.

I know there are many websites out there which teach wine making, foraging and so on but one of the best I have found which shows how to use natural ingredients for all this and more, including making mead, fermenting foods, foraging, herbal help etc is this one: https://www.growforagecookferment.com/?s=mead

I’ve linked the mead page but it’s just to give you an example of what I mean and no, I’m not affiliated in any way with this website but I use it a lot and thought a lot of you would find it interesting and useful too! The foraging and herbal information is one of the best I’ve found so far.

If you do try it, please let me know what you thought of it and what recipes you tried as I’ve only done a couple and would love to find some really good ones without having to make everything!