Homemade dogwood wine: recipes, beneficial properties

Content

1 Beneficial properties of dogwood wine
2 Secrets of making dogwood wine
3 Classic dogwood wine recipe
4 Homemade dogwood wine with honey
5 Recipe for sweet dogwood wine
6 Dogwood wine without yeast
7 Recipe for homemade dogwood wine with grapes and lemon
8 How to make dogwood wine with raisins
9 Terms and rules for storing dogwood wine
10 Conclusion

Dogwood wine is aromatic, with an indescribable original taste. To prepare such a drink you will need dried, frozen, and best of all fresh dogwood berries. Raw materials for alcoholic beverages must be of high quality and free of rot. The container in which the drink will be made must be washed with hot water and wiped dry with a clean towel.

Beneficial properties of dogwood wine

Homemade dogwood wine is an original drink. This wine is not intended for meaningless consumption, but is more suitable for true connoisseurs of delicious alcoholic beverages. In addition to its excellent taste and rich aroma with a unique aftertaste, dogwood wine also has beneficial properties:

lowers body temperature;
cleanses the bronchi;
has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and digestive systems;
in small doses with prolonged use, wine stops the development of colds and prevents the occurrence of infections;
strengthens the immune system, has a tonic effect;
removes toxins from the body, reduces inflammatory processes in the body.

Among other things, the drink is low-calorie, which is an additional positive quality when drinking the drink for preventive purposes.

Secrets of making dogwood wine

To make dogwood wine at home, you need to choose non-rotten, ripe berries; even minor damage to a dogwood berry can ruin the entire drink, for this reason the material must be sorted out with special care.

For the drink, it is best to use fruits collected from the tree rather than fallen ones; this can also affect the quality of the wine. Experienced winemakers know that grapes contain colonies of wild yeasts that initiate the fermentation process. There are much fewer of these organisms on dogwood, so in order for fermentation to proceed at the proper level, it is necessary to use raisins. Although you can use not only raisins, but also yeast or sourdough to start fermentation.

To prepare the wort, the berries must be mashed. Technical means are not suitable for this, as there is a chance of damaging the seed, and this will spoil the taste of the drink. Therefore, it is better to mash the berries with your hands, or remove the seeds before cooking. Sugar must be added to the wort in stages, thanks to which the fermentation process will proceed smoothly and uninterruptedly. The sweetness and strength of the drink is regulated at the stage of sending the drink for aging.

Dogwood wine can take three to four months to make, and the finished wine can be stored for at least four years in a cool place. In order for the drink to infuse correctly, you will need a water seal or a rubber glove with a puncture. Either one or another device will help the fermentation process proceed properly.All containers for wine must be thoroughly washed and treated with either boiling water or soda, this will prevent the process of souring the finished drink.

Classic dogwood wine recipe

Making dogwood wine according to the classic recipe is quite simple; the drink turns out aromatic and will be appreciated by true gourmets. Ingredients required for making:

dogwood - 2 kg;
purified water - 2.5 l;
granulated sugar - 600 g;
a handful of raisins or 50 g of wine yeast.

Step-by-step recipe for making dogwood wine:

Before you start working with berries, you need to make a starter 3-4 days in advance. If wine yeast is used for preparation, this step is skipped. To make the starter, place the raisins in a bottle and add 10 g of sugar and 50 g of water. The container must be covered with gauze and placed in a warm, dark place for 3–4 days. As soon as foam appears, the starter is ready.
Raisins should be washed and thoroughly crushed using a rolling pin or spoon, being careful not to damage the seed.
Mix 250 g of sugar in 1.5 liters of water and boil the syrup, bring to a boil and cook for no more than 5 minutes, removing the foam that forms on the surface.
Pour dogwood berries with hot syrup into a wide-necked container; an enamel pan is perfect. After no more than 15 minutes, pour in a liter of unboiled cold water. Mix everything thoroughly and let cool to room temperature.
The next step is to add starter or wine yeast and mix thoroughly.
The container must be placed in a dark place where the temperature should be around 20–25 °C. Cover the top with gauze.
After a few days, the wort will begin to ferment and a characteristic smell, foam and hissing will appear.After this, the berries should be strained, as they are no longer needed.
Add 150 g of sugar to the fermented juice, mix and pour the wort into a fermentation container. The container should be no more than 3 quarters full.
Place a water seal or a prepared rubber glove on the neck. Check the tightness carefully.
Transfer the container with the wort to a dark place with a temperature of 20–25 °C.
After 4-5 days, add 100 g of sugar. To do this, take up to 300 g of juice and stir sugar in it. Drain the syrup back. After 3-4 days, the entire procedure with sugar must be repeated.
After 25–60 days, the fermentation process will stop, sediment will form at the bottom, and the wort will lighten. Drain the dogwood wine into another container, without sediment from the bottom.
The resulting drink can be slightly sweetened and, if desired, made stronger using vodka; in this case, the taste will become worse, but the strength will increase and it will be stored longer.
Pour the drink into bottles under the neck and leave for storage, periodically (once a month) removing the sediment; after the sediment stops forming, the delicious dogwood wine is ready.

Store the finished drink in a cool place. The shelf life of such wine is 4–6 years.

Homemade dogwood wine with honey

The recipe for dogwood wine with honey is simple and has unique taste. For preparation you will need:

prepared dogwood - 3 kg;
clean water - 4.5 l;
granulated sugar - 1 kg;
wine yeast - 50 g;
honey - 500 g.

The procedure for making dogwood wine is as follows:

Unwashed dogwoods must be mashed in any convenient way and placed in the container in which the drink will be made. The berries should be covered with 500 g of sugar and set aside until the juice appears.
Bring 1 liter of water to a boil and pour it over the berries.Mix the mixture thoroughly and leave to cool.
When the berry mixture has cooled, add the yeast and stir thoroughly. The container must be covered with gauze and left for 3 days at room temperature for fermentation.
After 3 days, the wort must be filtered, the berries squeezed out and the liquid poured back into the bottle.
The remaining amount of water should be slightly heated on the stove, combined with sugar and honey. Mix the liquid with sweeteners thoroughly until completely dissolved. The resulting syrup must be mixed with dogwood juice.
Place a water seal or medical glove on the bottle, and place the container in a dark place.
After the fermentation process is completed, you need to leave the drink to rest for 3 days. After this, the wort must be filtered and bottled for storage; to avoid contact of the wine with air, the bottles should be filled to the very top.

Homemade classic wine is ready to drink. If stored correctly, the drink can be stored for 3-4 years without loss of taste and quality.

Recipe for sweet dogwood wine

The recipe for sweet dogwood wine is no different from other recipes, and such wine is made in the same way as according to the classic recipe. The whole secret is that after the wine is prepared, you will need to add sugar to it and keep it under a water seal for another 5-10 days. Then remove the sediment and seal it for storage.

Dogwood wine without yeast

The recipe for dogwood wine without using yeast looks exactly the same as the recipe for homemade dogwood wine with honey, only without the use of wine yeast, the role of which is played by either raisins or other unwashed raspberries or grapes.Colonies of wild yeast live on the surface of these berries, which do an excellent job of starting the fermentation process. This wine turns out tastier and more aromatic.

Recipe for homemade dogwood wine with grapes and lemon

And again, the result is a recipe that is practically no different from the classic one, only for the starter you will need a bunch of grapes weighing at least 100 g. Make a starter based on it (recipe above). And at the stage of the second addition of sugar to the syrup, you need to add the juice of one lemon, after which everything is done in exactly the same way. After 50 days, fermentation will stop and the wine can be bottled. This drink has more beneficial properties for the cardiovascular system and will rightfully occupy a leading position in the wine collection of a real gourmet.

How to make dogwood wine with raisins

All recipes for making wine from dogwood without using wine yeast involve the use of raisins, which do an excellent job of starting the fermentation process. Raisins are the best product to replace yeast. Since its surface contains the highest content of wild yeast. For this reason, any wine in which yeast is replaced with raisins will not only not lose, but in some respects it will even be better.

Terms and rules for storing dogwood wine

Dogwood wine, like any other wine, must be stored in a cool, dark place. To prevent time from spoiling its taste, you can remove the newly formed sediment from the finished drink once a year. The shelf life of dogwood wine is 4–6 years, but, as practice shows, such a valuable drink does not last that long.

Conclusion

Dogwood wine is a very tasty and healthy drink, provided that it is not abused.Any winemaker and connoisseur of delicious and noble wines will appreciate this drink. This wine goes perfectly with meat, fish and seafood. Dogwood wine can be safely placed at the head of drinks on any holiday table. The process of making wine from dogwood is presented in the video.