Quince wine is a unique beverage that is sure to add a special touch to your next party. It is more difficult to make than grape juice, but with a little patience and a lot of care you can make a fantastic batch.
Ingredients:
The most important step when making quince wine is preparing the fruit. You will need a food processor or a knife and some patience to grate all the fruit. You will need about 20 quinces for a gallon of wine.
Peel, Core and Slice the Fruit
Traditionally, quince is poached in lemon water, which enhances its sweet flavor. Turkish Jews also prepare it with pomegranate liquid, called ayva tatlisi. This combination is not only delicious but surprisingly filling and low in calories.
Grate the Quince
The process of grating the quince can be very laborious because you need to grate the fruit with skins on or just as close to the core as possible. It is advisable to use a food processor so that you can speed up this process.
Cooking the Quince
Once you have grated all the quince you will need to cook them for 15 minutes. This will release some of the pectin and allow for the wine to clear.
When cooking the quince you will need to be careful not to overcook them as this will result in a more mushy texture for the wine. After a while you will need to strain out the quince juice as well as any remaining pulp with cheese cloth or a colander to ensure that no sediments are left in your wine.
Dissolve the Sugar in Water
The next step is to dissolve the sugar into the water in which you boiled the quince. This is a very important step in order to avoid excess tannins that can cause the wine to become too tart.
Preferably, the water should be slightly cooled to help the yeast get going and prevent over fermentation. If it is too hot, the yeast will not work as efficiently and the wine may not have enough carbon dioxide to get started.
Pour the contents into a bottle and install a water seal, then place in a warm (not boiling) room. This will take a few days, depending on the temperature and the composition of the must.
After a few days you will need to decant the wine from the sediment as it is sludgey and cloudy, and then filter it through gauze or cheesecloth. This is a great way to test for clarity as well as remove any sediment that you don’t want in your wine.
Fermentation:
The last step in the preparation of the quince wine is to ferment it. This will take a few days to several weeks, depending on the temperature and chemical composition of the must. When the fermentation process is complete, you will notice that the liquid has changed color and the airlock has stopped bubbling.