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Bird cherry is a unique berry. Tasty, but you won't eat much. But making homemade bird cherry wine is very useful. And the nutritional value of the berries will be preserved, and a pleasant tart drink is always welcome. Homemade wines differ from store-bought wines in that they are easy to prepare, affordable, and have good energy. With your own hands you can make a wonderful aromatic drink that family members and guests will enjoy. The astringent taste of fresh berries, which many do not like, gives the wine originality. Bird cherry contains pectin, which is beneficial for older people. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the beautiful fruits. Bird cherry often remains on the sidelines.
Housewives prefer wines made from grapes, currants, plums, but they may not even remember about bird cherry. But if you try this amazing product at least once, then bird cherry wine will take its rightful place on the list of preparations.
Let's look at a simple way to make wine from black or red bird cherry at home.
Strong drink made from bird cherry - preparatory stage
To prepare we need:
- bird cherry berries in the amount of 5 kg;
- clean water in a volume of 5 l;
- granulated sugar – 1.5 kg (ideally, you can take 250 g per 1 kg of berries);
- black raisins – 70 g.
First, prepare a glass container. You can take a volume of 10 or 15 liters. It depends on the number of berries and needs.Wash the bottle, dry it, cover with a clean lid or cloth.
Let's move on to preparing the berries. The very first thing to do is sort out the bird cherry fruits. To make the wine tasty and aromatic, we need ripe, but not overripe, berries. It is better to set aside those that are too soft. At the time of sorting, we remove spoiled berries, leaves, twigs, and any debris.
Water washes away natural yeast from the surface of the fruit, so fermentation will be weak and the drink may not turn out.
Pour clean sorted bird cherry fruits into a convenient basin and knead. When all the berries are still whole, you can take a mortar and then continue with your hands. Be sure to wear gloves so that your hands don’t turn the color of bird cherry. Knead thoroughly.
We prepare wine from black or red bird cherry using sugar syrup. Therefore, it will have to be prepared. Housewives know how to prepare syrup for jam. The technology in the wine process remains the same:
- Pour sugar according to the recipe into an enamel bowl and add water.
- Mix well so that the syrup does not burn in the future.
- Boil the sweet water for 3-5 minutes, remembering to remove the foam.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool to 20°C.
Preparing the wort. It is better to make it in a separate container, and then put the wine in a pre-prepared container.
Pour syrup over the berries, add washed raisins and cover the container with gauze folded in three layers. Be sure to secure the edges with an elastic band. We remove the pan to a warm and dark room. Exposure time is three days or more. During this time, do not forget to stir the contents daily to remove excess acid. As soon as fermentation begins, the wort is ready.The onset of fermentation can be easily determined by the appearance of:
- foam on the surface;
- bubbles in the contents of the pan;
- characteristic smell of mash;
- hissing and bubbling of the wort.
Now we take the prepared container and pour the resulting wine into it, which should withstand and outlast.
The main stage of wine preparation
For proper fermentation, you need to make a water seal on the bottle. Usually at home this is a tube that helps the gases escape from the container. One end of the tube is lowered into a bottle, the other into a container of water.
It is necessary to carefully insulate the tube at both ends. Bubbles appearing indicate that the fermentation process is still ongoing.
Place the container in a room with a temperature of 17°C-24°C without direct sunlight on the liquid.
It will take 3 to 6 weeks to infuse the bird cherry wine. We determine readiness by the lightening of the wort, the absence of bubbles and the appearance of sediment. Now the bird cherry drink requires further processing.
Pour the wine into a large bottle very carefully. It is important for us not to stir up the sediment.
Let's move on to the final stage.
Final actions
We need to taste the wine for sugar. If you want a sweeter drink, add sugar. We do it like this:
- Pour 0.5 or 1 liter of wine into a separate container.
- Add the required amount of sugar.
- Mix well.
- Pour into a bottle.
Now we send the bird cherry wine to a cooler place with a temperature no higher than 11°C and keep it for 2 to 6 months. It is better to wait as long as possible, then the drink will taste better.
Pour the finished wine into small bottles and seal. Store in the basement or refrigerator. Shelf life is 2-3 years, drink strength is 12%.
If you want red bird cherry wine to be more tart, add the leaves of the plant in a ratio of 300 g per 5 kg of ripe fruit.
There is another easy and simple recipe for making red bird cherry wine.
The option does not involve preparing the wort. The crushed berries are placed in a bottle and sprinkled in layers with a thin layer of sugar. The filling is carried out to ¾ of the container volume, then the mixture is filled with water. A water seal is placed on the neck, and the wine is aged for the required period until the end of fermentation. As soon as fermentation ends, the drink is bottled and sent to the cellar.
If you try to make bird cherry wine at home, the result will make you change your attitude towards this shrub. The drink makes the taste of the berries much softer. Prepare fine wine with varying degrees of sweetness and strength. You will appreciate this wonderful drink with an unusual taste and aroma.
