05-12-2011 ~ 3 Comments
To turn tea in to wine
We came across this curious recipe in an old book from the 1950’s simply called, “How to make Wine”. It was sitting in the book shelf of 2 Sisters Bar & Books, which we covered back when it opened.
Curiously, it’s a recipe for making wine out of tea. No, there are no grapes involved (only raisins) and given that I’m no scientist, I can’t exactly see where the fermentation will come from (the lemons maybe?), but it was an interesting thing to come across–especially as it blends two of my favorite things: wine and tea. It almost seems to be some older form of homemade Kombucha before that became all fashionable as of late.
I’ll definitely have to give this a go once winter formally sets in and the days call for making strange wines.
Had a copy of this book when growing up.
Tried a few of the recipes – Blackberry, Elderberry etc.
The best, by far, was Tea Wine.
You’re right – the lemons provide the yeast.
The yeast seems to be on the skin of the lemon and forms a multicolored skin/crust during the fermentation.
You have to be careful to remove all of it before bottling.
Tea wine tastes a bit like sherry.
Thanks for showing the recipe in your post, I will have another go at making it and see if I can repeat my childhood success.
PS I’d really like to get hold of a copy of this book, but I can’t remember the author or publisher (or any details really).
To help me with my Internet search, could you please give some more details of the book?
Unfortunately I don’t remember the author either as it was a book in the bar that I took the photo of and don’t actually own the book. Sorry about that.