I checked my raspberry wine and found that I have two gallons of raspberry vinegar. Ack! Quickly, I removed it to a warm place in the kitchen where it can finish its transformation, far from the carboys so decoratively sitting around the living room. Well, as French winemakers say, God loves to make vinegar. When you’re making wine in an apartment with minimal temperature control, you have to expect an occasional failure. But my efforts have produced some (I must say) delicious Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blends as well as good wines of apricots, strawberries, pomelos, even raspberries. So what happened here? Well, the airlock stopping the mouth of carboy (fermentation vessel) was crooked – probably just enough air and maybe a fruit fly got into the fluid and spoiled my drink. (That airlock on that particular carboy was always getting tangled up in my skirt as I swept past. ) Raspberry shrub, anyone?
Looking into recipes for that old-fashioned drink, I see that people first steeped their raspberries in vinegar for several days, added 75% of the strained liquid’s weight in sugar, and boiled the mix till a syrup formed, about 15 minutes. They then flavored cold water with the red, sweet-sour liquid: recipes say anywhere from 1 tablespoon per glass to 1/3 of the glass as syrup. Guess it was a matter of taste. In Colonial America, they liked it sweet. Since my raspberries have obligingly gone ahead and made vinegar in my modern Israeli setting, I believe I’ll take a liter or so of it and simmer it to a syrup with sugar. Maybe it will taste good in soda water. Those old recipes all say it’s refreshing, tasty, good for a sore throat. I mean, that’s two gallons of raspberry vinegar, folks.
My raspberry wines have been good in the past, but expensive to make as the berries aren’t local. I bought frozen imported ones, convinced that the wine justified the fruit’s high price. With this little disaster, I tightened my resolve to stick to local ingredients as much as possible. On my shelves are luscious food-and-travel books by authors sensuously eating and cooking their ways through the Mediterranean. They make me start dreaming, feeling hungry. How nice it would be to make some of those recipes myself…imagine, chestnut-flour cake…but I pull up short as I remember that all those delicious peasant foods of Italy and France are based on raw materials grown or foraged close to home. Israel also has olives and wine; abundant, fresh, flavorful produce; and a great mix of ethnic groups from which to cull recipes. No great amount of chestnuts, though, except around Tu B’Shvat.
We do import a large part of our food – most our flour comes from imported wheat, for example. Few can claim to be real locavores in our small country, and I frankly think people don’t give the issue a minute’s thought. But I’ve come under the influence of Leda Meredith’s passionate crusade to reduce carbon transmission in our planet by eating local, seasonal foods – see her 250-mile diet. Meantime, I think I’ll concentrate on bottling the liqueurs of apricot and strawberry that I put up two months ago.
Mimi
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Oh, my 2 gallons of raspberry vinegar! Well, hope it makes a good syrup for soda water!
I’ll be posting some Klezmer pics soon. In my spare time. Maybe after a Long Beach Ice tea
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wuv,
Tsfatmarm
I played around with shrub recipes in the past. Took some tinkering with the vinegar-to-sweetener-to water ratios, but I did eventually end up with some that I liked very much (I think you’re right to go with the soda water–among my tries, the ones I liked best had some sparkling water). You’ll definitely find some uses for that berry vinegar!
And thanks for the mention. My 250-Mile year officially ended on Aug. 7th, but the impact of it has sunk into my bones. I’ve yet to buy a non-local wine–why would I when there are so many good local ones? I no longer see a need for sugar or black pepper in my kitchen. I stood at the cheese counter for a long time today and ended up trying a local cheese that I hadn’t noticed before. Not that I don’t appreciate the specialties of other countries because I do! Like those chestnuts you mention…but I’ll wait on sampling exotic ingredients (that I used to think were everyday!) until a festive occasion that warrants the splurge.
I have always loved your writing and hearing about your life in Israel. I am so looking forward to enjoying your blog in the months ahead!
Love,
Leda
Tzfatmarm, I’d love to see your Klezmer photos. We had planned to go up to the festival this year, but as plans sometimes go awry, ours did. Hope we can get together yet before Rosh Hashana!
Leda, thanks for the welcome, and your enthusiasm makes me glad.
Mimi
Hi Miriam,
So glad to know about your blog after years of reading your comments on line. I’ve always wanted to try making a shrub but haven’t done it yet…you’ve motivated me. We had a bonanza of blackberries in PA this year. I mean serious abundance: gallons and gallons and the harvest isn’t over yet. I bet they’d make as good a shrub (or wine) as raspberries…and you can’t get more local; they’re right outside the door. Do you have blackberries by you?
Ellen
Shalom Ellen!
Gallons and gallons of blackberries, oh my…my part of Israel is too hot for blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries. We do have flourishing mulberry trees.
I know it’s crazy when a huge bounty of fruit is right there, demanding to get used up. You almost wish it weren’t, although you know how welcome all your preserves will be later on in the year. Yes indeed, blackberries make great wine.
If I had all those blackberries, Ellen, I’d make lots of wine, too much wine. Some of that I would put aside to sour for salad vinegar, and some of the vinegar, I’d cook down for shrub.
The syrup I finally made from my soured raspberry wine was delicious, and took almost no trouble. Equal amounts of vinegar/sugar – simmer 20 minutes – pour into a jar. Voila. The flavor was only somewhat sour, and as the olde reports say, refreshing. I supped spoonfuls even while it was still hot.
Blackberry wine, blackberry vinegar for salads, shrub, dried berries, canned berries, fresh pies and cobblers… I’d go berserk. Don’t know how much free time you have, busy lady, but please do make lots of wine from them berries!
Mimi
There’s a Persian medieval drink called Sekanjabin which calls for a wine vinegar to be used. Perhaps your raspberry vinegar will make a wonderful substitution.
Here is just one of the many links to a recipe for the syrup: http://tinyurl.com/5ctha5
Hi, Devo,
Thanks for the link. I was interested to see that the syrup stays fresh without refrigeration; had been wondering about that. It must be the vinegar.
The syrup I made is an intense ruby color, but only tinges water a faint pink. You don’t expect much flavor, but surprise – the raspberry comes through fresh and strong. I’m glad my wine went sour, now.
Mimi