North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[hector black <hblack@twlakes.net>]

I believe that wine turns to vinegar with the introduction of bacteria (?)
that are in the air and also in the saliva of the fruit fly.  That's why in
wine making, it is important to put a baloon or bubbler on the fermentation
so that these cannot enter and change the alcohol to vinegar.  The
fermentation is anaerobic (no air), but changing to vinegar is aerobic and
does best with good air circulation.  When I make vinegar, I put one of
those fish tank bubblers in the wine to get plenty of air to the mix.
Hector


----- Original Message -----
From: del stubbs <pinewoodel@hotmail.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] old chokecherry wine/aronia


>
> I make lots of very
> >good fruit juices by this method that I learned from an Amish friend:
> >Put a large handful of fruit (chokecherries, wild or tame grapes,
> >elderberries, or just about any berry or well-crushed bulky fruit) in a
> >quart Mason jar, add a good squirt of lemon juice (unless the fruit is
> >quite
> >acid), a tablespoon of honey or sugar, and then fil the jar with boiling
> >water. IMMEDIATELY screw on the lid. Set the jars away on a shelf in a
dark
> >place in the cellar. Keeps for many years. I have never lost a jar to
> >spoilage or fermentation.
> >Bill
>
> Just this morn I was talking to a neighbor who learned a similar method
from
> one of our menonite neighbors....the difference is that the jars were then
> water bath canned. To skip that step would be great, I am suprised so
little
> added sweet is enough to preserve without canning. My wife mentions folk
who
> use the above method with pickles, but with mixed success, she feels the
> canning process is an important safeguard.
>
> I am most curious how oak shavings could help something as astringent as
> chokecherries, ever tried tasting oak sawdust? It isn't exactly  like
sugar,
> must be some chemical reaction.
>
> "wine is wine, vinegar is vinegar"  My wife doesn't believe it, I'll ride
> the fence in ignorance.....but we both remember hearing that a fruit fly
in
> a wine bottle can make wine into vinegar.....and we have a bottle of
'red
> wine vinegar'..?
> thanks for all the chokecherry imput,
> Del
>
> Del Stubbs  www.pinewoodforge.com  ag zone2/3
>
>
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