VINO di SAMBUCO (Elderberry Wine)

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Make sure to pick clean, ripe elderberries and remove all the leaves and stalkes. Wash well under running water.

Crush the berries to create a must –  I use my PASSATUTTO machine which works very well for this.

Once you have your must, pour it into a large enough container to hold all the product and have some spare space to allow for foaming during the first few days.  Now add about three litres of boiling water for every litre of fruit.  Close it well and leave it  for one day to sterilise the must. Add pectinase enzyme and leave for another day.  Adjust the pH and sugar contents, add your wine yeast and yeast nutrients and ferment on the must for about ten days. Remember to stir twice a day and always use clean sterilised equipment. Always close the container well to prevent contamination and fruit flies getting into the must.

After 10 days, rack and filter and adjust for sugar if required. Now pour your wine into a large enough Damigiana to make sure their is not too much air space, then put on an airlock and wait.

Rack and filter when the ferment is becoming clear and sediment is visible (about 2 – 3 weeks). Every time you work with the wine, top the Damigiana up to the neck with similar sugar content syrup or fruit juice. Airlock and ferment.

After another few weeks the fermentation will become slow and it is then time to rack, filter and top up again.

Make sure the fermentation has stopped completely before you rack, filter and bottle.

Leave it alone for a month and ENJOY!!

Vino di Fiori di Sambuco (Elder Flower Wine)

2018-12-24 - Elderberry Harvesting Team

The Elder Flower Pickers hard at work. We had a trial run a few weeks ago making Elder Flower Sparkling Wine. It was delicious. We set out to harvest enough before the flowers disappear, at which stage we will attempt elderberry wine!

Vino di Sambuco ( elder flower wine ) Recipe as it happened step by step

2018-12-03

Add about 1 Liter Elder flowers, stems removed, to a 10 L plastic drum and cover with 5 Liters of boiling water – seal

2018-12-04

Stir in 1 Kg of Sugar until dissolved

Ad lemon zest of four lemons

Ad lemon juice of four lemons (about 210 ml)

Re – hydrate yeast by adding 6 g ‘GoFerm’ and 5 g ‘Lalvin EC1118′

(the seller is called Make Wine) and 50 ml of cooled boiled water Leave for 30 minutes

Add re – hydrated yeast to the must

Add 4 g ‘Ferm Aid ‘ to the must

SG (Specific Gravity measured with a Hydrometer to determine the sugar content) – 1.055 (Ad more sugar later)

Stir very well and put lid on tub – ferment on the must

Stir twice daily

2018-12-08

Rack and filter into two X 5 Liter Damigiane or large glass wine bottles. Top up with about 0.5 Liter each of 1.09 SG sugar syrup

Airlock and Ferment

SG – 1.06

2018-12-11

Rack and Filter

Airlock and Ferment

SG – 1.04

2018-12-15

Rack and Filter

Airlock and Ferment

SG – 1.02

Top up with 200 ml (100 ml per Darmigiana) of SG 1.09 Sugar Syrup

Taste – Pleasant, sweet and a bit bubbly

SG – 1.04

Airlock and Ferment

2018-12-20

Still fermenting slowly

SG – 1.02

Rack, Filter and Bottle in a Champagne bottles

Drink and ENJOY!!!

 

 

PASTA AL LIMONE

 

If you have any lemons left after making  Limoncello, you may as well make some delicious PASTA AL LIMONE
When my friend joined me for an afternoon of cheese making Mrs BYF had collected all the leftover ricotta (1/2 cup) and about 1 cup of mascarpone (which had turned out a bit sour) I had made a few days ago and made a great pasta sauce. She melted the cheeses and a tablespoon of butter over a very slow heat while the pasta was cooking, added some lemon rind and a few squeezes of lemon juice, bit of salt and pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes. After adding a few spoonfuls of pasta water she added the drained pasta to the pan and served it with a generous dusting of parmigiano cheese. It was delicious and my friend wanted the recipe. As with a lot of her best dishes her passion for using the ingredients at hand it can never be repeated!

The secret is home made cheese. The ricotta we can buy here is not edible, whereas one can buy reasonable mascarpone made by Tatua. Having lovely organic lemons from a neighbour’s mum’s tree in Wellington is also an inspiration to make this simple but elegant dish.

PANETTONE

Panettone is traditionally eaten throughout Italy and the world by Italians during the Christmas period. The origin of panettone is from Milan where we consume it all year round. It is a tedious and long process to make, but always worth the while.

PANETTONI

First kneading

150 g Sugar

15 g Natural Live Yeast

260 g Biga (50:50)

200 g Egg Yolks

340 g Flour

220 g Butter

1185 g TOTAL

Procedure

Dissolve the sugar and live yeast in the Biga, then add the egg yolks and flour and mix well until even. Ad the soft butter and mix well. Let it levitate 12 to 14 hours at 25°C or until triple in volume.

Second Kneading

200 g Flour

35 g Sugar

50 g Egg Yolks

50 g Butter

10 g Salt

3 g Vanilla Pods

200 g Sultanas pre-soaked and dried

180 g Candied Fruit

50 g Orange Peel

778 g TOTAL

1963 G GRAND TOTAL

Procedure

Knead the flour and first kneading until elastic. Add the sugar and the egg yolks and mix / knead thoroughly, then add the butter, salt and vanilla and mix until even. Lastly add the fruit and mix well.

Let the dough proof for one hour, then divide into portions and let it rest for another hour. Pirlare (to make the dough round) and place into moulds lined with baking paper.

Levitate at 30°C for 5 to 6 hours or until triple in volume. Bake at 160C for twenty minutes, rotate the moulds and bake another 40 minutes at 150 C (Approximately 60 minutes per kilogram for each mould). When taken from the oven, turn upside-down and rest for at least 3 hours, then put in bags and store.

For some time we every year imported a 10 Kg Albertengo Moscato Panettone from Albertnego in Italy.

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