making your own wine and chutney?

quintwins

i'm already thinking of next xmas and was considering making my own wines and chutneys to bulk out but i've never tried anything like this before so was hoping you could point me in the right direction, we have a pear tree so i was thinking of making pear chutney (had a wee google and saw a few recipes) but the jars seem to be dear, do you think it would be possible to sore it in the old style sweet jars you get from ikea? and how long does it keep for?

as for wine well we have a green house full of grape wines that produces huge bunches of grapes that are so bitter we've never used any but i really have no idea where to start with wine and could use abit of direction, thanks

RAS

Hi

Jars - I suspect that you buy some goods in jars - mayonnaise, pesto, pickles, etc. I reuse them as long as seal on the lids is intact. Very rarely have a problem. If they are a standard size, you can also get replacement lids in lakeland.

You could make pear chutneys, spiced pears, pickled pears, pears in red wine etc.

Wine- basicaly, you need to press the juice outof the grapes and ferment it. Go an old baby bath? Roll your trouser legs up and get stomping.

quintwins

no i freecycled my baby bath in a bid to declutter (not that it ever works) but i could find something i know i need yeast ect but wat you i acually do after i squish them? with two 4 year olds i'd say that will be the easy bit

angelavdavis

Hi, there is a lovely thread on Old Style called Preserver's Year that you will find useful as it covers preserve and wine making recipes and advice you may ever need!

Mayflower10cat

over a four year period in our previous house we tried (and failed!!) to make drinkable homemade wine - goodness knows what we did wrong, I followed instructions to the letter and sterilised like mad. Ah well!!I had two books which were very useful, one I've still got and it was 'First steps in winemaking' by C.J.J. Berry (available from the library and then I bought it second hand on eBay). I hope you have better luck than we did, don't let my failure put you off! Where we live now a local farm offers a pressing and/or pasteurisation service. It's great! You take them your fruit, they press it and either return the raw juice for wine/cidermaking or, they pasteurise and bottle it for you with your own label - it will keep for a year. They will also make your apples into cider for you.

Chutney-wise I've had much more success. I ask friends to hoard jars for me and I raid the recycling boxes of neighbours. I use recipes (or variations) of the ones I got from the Rivercottage.net forum. The lady expert Hugh uses now, Pam the Jam, has some very good books out, again many of them second hand on ebay. Mine seem to keep pretty well - I've got some that's a year old just opened and it's delicious.

My advice is just give it a go. You need a really nice sturdy pan. I borrow my friends big jam pan when I need to - I pay her back with a jar of chutney or jam.

quintwins

thank you i hope i have more luck than you wine wise because our grapes are that bitter i don't think they'll be good for much else, don't think anywhere near us offers a pressing/pasteurising service but i'll give it ago anyway, my grandad used to make his own wine and beer before he passed away i can remeber drinking lovely peace wine when i was about 12 and his telling my mum it was juice lol

thank you for the link to the thread i've bookmarked it so i can have a proper read threw when i get a chance

oh i also have a gooseberry bush and we have blackberries and raspberrys growing wild in our front hedges and all up the lane beside us so will def be out picking this summer and giving it ago, not sure wat to do with gooseberrys mind

clare64

I have been making wine for years and use recipes from several different books, but the one I always go back to is 'making wine the natural way' by Ian Bell.
you can buy it, used, on Amazon for 2.75 ( sorry I don't know how to do links!)
Clarex

zippychick

ive lined up some useful links foryou

Where to find glass jars?

how do you label your jam jars?

homemade wine

slow cooker chutney

delia has a pear cranberry chutney recipe if you look on google you may find it? And homemade stuff will literally keep for years and years. Gets better over time

ill merge this with quick chutney questions later

Zip:A

quintwins

thank you, i'm def gonna try slow cooker chutney, i love my slowcooker, i love it so much i have 2