Wild Chokecherry Wine

The chokecherry is a tree that grows small cherry like fruits. It is found all over the world but its highest density is in America. If we talk in botany terms, then we must emphasize the fact that the chokeberry belongs to the Prunes family, family that encloses all types of prune like fruits, from cherries to oranges or green prunes.

The chokeberry looks slightly alike other berries that are not all edible, so when picked from wild sources one must be aware of the risk and know very well how the typical plant and fruits should look like. The fruits are very sour and the seeds are not suitable for eating because they enclose a great source of hydrocyanic acid, an acid that can cause many health deficits when swallowed in large quantities. So the best thing to do is to take out all the seeds before consuming or preparing any fruits.

Despite the toxic seeds, people still use the chokeberry fruit to make a great, flavored and unusually dry wine. If you are a big fan of sweet wines, then chokeberry wine is not your main purpose to pursuit. Of course, the wine can be sweetened by artificial means as adding sugar and sugar compounds, but if too much is added the wine’s unique flavor can get lost in the process.

If you decide you want to try making chokeberry wine you will need about 3 pounds of freshly picked chokeberries, yeast from wine or champagne, water (about twice the quantity of the fruit measure) sugar if you want to add it, maximum allowed amount of sugar must not overcome the fruit amount, one small spoon of wine acid, and other specific treatments that are given to wines in your province and can be found in any specialized store.

The fruits must be peeled and seeds taken out. Then, in a big blender, we can stir the fruits along with the equivalent water quantity. The result will be filtered until we get a clear juice. In a big recipient, we will place all the juice and the rest of the ingredients and blend them until the density of the liquid becomes even. The fruits will be placed in a filtering bag and added to the mix, in a way that won’t let them escape from the containing sack. Then the recipient will be covered.

If this has been done in the morning, then when night falls you will need to add an aspirin ear something equivalent to the mix, cover it back and let it sit again for another seven days. In the seventh day, we extract the fruit bag and squeeze it well, we taste the wine and if needed we add more sugar.

The fruits are extracted now from the recipient and the young wine is placed into a permanent fermentation bottle. It can sit in it for four to six month, when it can be placed in final consumption bottles. Make sure the bottles are made of dark glass. You can drink the wine after six, seven month but it will prove to be at its best when it is at least a year old.