The classic recipe for pomegranate wine for making at home involves the presence of a minimum of ingredients. Among them are ripe pomegranates. Initially, the method was used in hot countries - Azerbaijan, Israel, Turkey, where the raw materials for the drink grow directly on the plots, in gardens. In Russian conditions, you will have to use the services of the market. But the wine is worth it: tasty, aromatic and healthy. A real storehouse of vitamins.
Cooking features
To make wine from pomegranates, you need to fulfill a couple of conditions:
- Carefully select ripe, not rotten fruits.
- Add sugar and water to neutralize the natural acidity of the fruit.
The exception is some Israeli varieties, which have enough natural sugar content. The more sweetness there is in the must, the original wine material, the tastier the product will be. Be sure to remove the white partitions in the fruits, which impart noticeable bitterness.
Product benefits
Ripe pomegranates and wine contain large quantities of rare amino acids, vitamins K, C, group B, as well as potassium, copper and phosphorus. Fruits improve heart function, purify the blood, help prevent caries, and have a beneficial effect on the condition of bone tissue and cartilage. This alone is worth making wine, a miraculous nectar with a lot of beneficial properties.
How to make pomegranate wine at home
To make pomegranate wine you will need the fruit, water, sugar and a bottle with a water seal. The latter can be replaced with a medical rubber glove. Many winemakers use this life hack: the mash ferments and the glove inflates. The product is ready - the glove is deflated.
The following will present the most common recipes for making pomegranate drink.
Classic recipe
For classics in winemaking they use:
- ripe fruits, carefully selected - 5 kilograms;
- granulated sugar – 350 grams for each liter of juice;
- water - 50 milliliters per liter of mixture.
You will also need wine yeast - ready-made or homemade. They are added because pomegranate juice may not naturally ferment. Homemade yeast is prepared from ripe small berries (raspberries, raisins), leaving them in a warm place with sugar for a couple of days. Bread is not good, it will turn out to be mash.
First of all, we clean and wash the pomegranate.The skins and partitions are removed, the grains themselves will be needed. Let's squeeze the juice. This is done manually, on a squeezer, in a combine - whatever you like. The finished mixture, bypassing filtration, is poured into a wide-necked container. Sugar and water are added to it (their quantity is tied to the volume of the mixture). For now you need 150 grams of sugar per liter. Sourdough or wine yeast is also placed there.
The neck is tied with gauze, and the container itself is placed in a dark room with a constant temperature within 18-25 degrees. The wort is stirred every day. Soon fermentation will begin and a characteristic smell will arise.
Now you can strain the wort from sediment and cake using 3-4 layers of gauze. If you squeeze out the remaining pulp, you will get some juice. It is poured into the wort. Next, sugar is added (100 grams per liter), the composition is mixed, and poured into a wine bottle with a narrow neck. The shutter is installed, the container is again placed in a dark place with a stable temperature. After another 4 days, add another 50 grams of sugar to a liter of wort.
Secret: to dissolve the granulated sugar, carefully drain about a liter of liquid from the bottle, mix, then return it back.
After the next 4 days, the sugar addition procedure is repeated. On average, fermentation takes from 35 to 50 days. Its completion is indicated by the cessation of gurgling in the bolt or the falling off of the glove.
The new wine is poured into a clean bottle. After tasting, if everything is satisfactory, sugar and alcohol are added, and the product can be poured into smaller containers, wine bottles.
Option with barley
The modernized recipe is based on enhancing the flavor of the wine with the help of barley grains. Will need:
- ripe pomegranate fruits - about one and a half dozen;
- one lemon;
- granulated sugar – 1.5 kilograms;
- crushed barley – 220 grams;
- wine yeast;
- water – 4 liters.
The secret of the recipe is to boil barley in 2 liters of water. When the mixture has cooled slightly, filter it, add pre-peeled pomegranate seeds, squeezed lemon juice and sugar. Then all that remains is to add water and add yeast (sourdough).
The indicator of the end of fermentation is the cessation of sediment formation.
From pomegranate juice
Having ready-made juice simplifies the process of making wine. All that remains is to add sugar, leaven and water. The higher the concentration of pomegranate extract in juice purchased at the market or in a store, the better. The ideal option is to use freshly squeezed substrate (available on the market), the remaining ingredients are taken as for the classic recipe.
Without yeast and sourdough
Pomegranate wine can ferment without a catalyst or yeast, but then the process becomes more unpredictable. You will need 5 kilograms of ripe fruits and approximately 1.2 kilograms of sugar. We do everything else according to the classic recipe.
Storage rules and periods
Corked bottles of pomegranate wine are stored in a dark place away from sunlight. This could be a cellar, basement, storage room. It has been noted that aging has a beneficial effect on the taste of the drink, making it softer and more balanced. In this case, the precipitate is filtered off approximately once a month.
How and with what do you drink pomegranate wine?
The wine is drunk in small sips, like a low-alcohol drink. It's better to cool it slightly. It is acceptable to use as an aperitif or dessert, in addition to fruit. Also used as a base for mulled wine and cocktails.
