Plum Wine (Czar).
(There are
many old varieties of plum - sadly many never appear in supermarkets. They all
make subtly different wines, jams and chutneys. It is well worth tracking down
the different types and experimenting. If all else fails - plant your own plum
tree!)
Ingredients
Method
Wash and stone the plums, do not use damaged fruit. (If you don't want yellow hands and nails - wear rubber gloves! Plum juice stains skin very efficiently!)
Put the plums, 1 lb of sugar, the cloves, the lemon and the 5 pints of boiling water in a large container and mix. Leave this to steep for 3 days.
After 3 days push as much juice as possible out of the fruit through a jelly strainer, without making the liquid too cloudy.
Add the red grape juice and measure the liquid.
Add 1 crushed Camden tablet, mix well and leave for 24 hours.
Start the yeast nutrient and sugar in a cup of water, standing it in a warm place until it froths.
To each gallon of juice add 2 lbs of sugar dissolved in a pint of hot water.
Add the yeast - using the quantities indicated on the packet - and stir well.
Pour into sterilised demijohns - leaving a gap of about 4 inches from the top - and fit fermentation locks.
Put in a warm place to ferment.
When this begins to slow down - at about 6 to 8 days - add another 1 lb of sugar in 2 pints of hot water and agitate bottles. Continue fermentation until all bubbles have ceased.
Rack off into clean demijohns. If this does not restart fermentation add 1 crushed Camden tablet and leave for a few weeks at a cooler temperature.
Continue to rack the wine into clean demijohns until it looks clear and settled - and tastes a bit like wine.
Transfer into wine bottles, using a filter if liked. Leave for a few months - the longer the better - then drink !