North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com>]

Chew a few of the mulberry stems. You'll now right away if they need to come 
off.
Chew some grape stems.. yikes.
The Brits use tea for tannin in some of their farmhouse wines!
Tannin; sure! Go by taste, do it in the Primary batch. 
It also helps pull out Pectin Haze through pos / neg charge attraction.
 
Some folks may be allergic to sulfites. When I meet one, I'll let you know.
Sulfur Dioxide does a lot more than kill bacteria. It also increases / 
decreases one of the aldehydes in the 5 step ferment reaction chain, 
resulting in higher glycerol production; better Body! Also, if you have a 
nice pink or white, clear wine that you don't want to have turn brown from 
oxidation, the Campden Tablet will tie up most / all of the oxygen in the 
wine, and prevent browning. It can be over-done, though, leaving you with 
bogus wine. Use a test kit for So2, called Titrettes. These only work on 
light colored wines; no Elderberry etc.
Finally, the more acidic the wine, the less So2 you need, so keep that in 
mind, too. Peroxide should turn wine brown fairly quickly...
I agree with the Juice Steamer comment. It also locks in the color of the 
fruit better.
 
In old Europe, they burnt sulfur on a piece of paper and chucked it in the 
empty wine barrel prior to filling.

R A Murphy Jr