# Pepper Wine - Black Hungarian - I'm going for it!



## BigDaveK (Nov 6, 2022)

A few years back this pepper taught me that there are complex flavors out there and peppers can be more than "sweet" or "hot". One of my favorites! While growing the color is dark purple to black. It ripens to a beautiful burgundy color and that's when the magic happens. Bite into one and just as you finish thinking, "Wow, this is sweet!" the heat kicks you in the mouth. A bit hotter than the jalapeno, hitting up 20,000 scoville, I no longer grow jalapenos and use this instead.
Transferred this morning and any pepper-head would love this.
I used a half pound of peppers and I'm happy the Black Hungarian characteristics carried through - it's incredibly fruity at first and then the heat slowly builds. Yes, there is heat, but not enough to exclude this from being a sipping wine. It's wonderful and back sweetening will be the icing on the cake.
And then I thought this would make an interesting dessert wine and I almost made a huge mistake......










.....I was about to take the pulp to the compost pile and I thought, "OMG, what am I doing?!"
Prepped another half pound of peppers, added the pulp, increased the acid just a bit, sugar, etc, and started a dessert wine on the spot. Going to step feed and see where we can take this.
With the already active yeast in the pulp this baby was going like crazy in just a couple hours.


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## winemaker81 (Nov 6, 2022)

A suggestion -- be careful with that fermenter -- you may find that it is no longer safe for other wines.


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## BigDaveK (Nov 7, 2022)

winemaker81 said:


> A suggestion -- be careful with that fermenter -- you may find that it is no longer safe for other wines.


Yup!
It's dedicated to pepper wines and labeled just in case.
I normally let it soak in a citric acid solution. Gets rid of the smell and most of the stain. Citric acid is great around the house and I buy it in 2# or 5# bags.
Also, just in case I'm working my way up the scoville scale with my peppers.

And worse case - I have about 15 2-gallon buckets I got from a bakery.


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## balatonwine (Nov 7, 2022)

Always love to see people experiment and push the boundaries.

But... I hope you saved some of that wonderful Hungarian pepper for some winter Fish Soup, Goulash and Pörkölt... 

Or even some Texas Chili...









Texas Chili and Hungarian Pörkölt: A cultural parallel with Capsicum


Preface : I met my good friend Dan Henklein during an unforgettable summer job working for the US Forest Service. All that summer Dan would never fail to amaze me not only with his extensive knowle…




stcoemgen.com


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## vinny (Nov 7, 2022)

I've never tasted the pulp after fermentation because nothing I've made had an interesting enough flavor to tempt me, and the point was to flavor the wine. It was spent in mind. Your post got me thinking when you said you almost made a mistake and composted it.I suspect either too much flavor would be stripped, or it might taste too boozy, but I wonder if there is any _other_ use for pepper wine pulp. 

Sweet fermented hot pepper relish?

I'd have to taste the wine to know if the idea is completele lunacy, or if there was any reason to even consider the thought, but you got me wondering.


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## vinny (Nov 7, 2022)

I keep citric acid on hand as well. What ratio do you use when mixing it up for cleaning?


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## BigDaveK (Nov 7, 2022)

balatonwine said:


> Always love to see people experiment and push the boundaries.
> 
> But... I hope you saved some of that wonderful Hungarian pepper for some winter Fish Soup, Goulash and Pörkölt...
> 
> ...


Oh yeah, goulash is scheduled this week as a matter of fact! You know, I've made it countless times over the years and it NEVER tastes as good as my mom's. And she didn't have a recipe, of course, just threw things into the pot.

And that was an interesting link, thanks! I have to say my chili is pretty darned good. Five or six different chili's from the garden gives me multiple flavor layers.

BTW, they no longer sell Zwack in Ohio. VERY disappointing. I have half a bottle that's precious to me and I don't share it.


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## BigDaveK (Nov 7, 2022)

vinny said:


> I've never tasted the pulp after fermentation because nothing I've made had an interesting enough flavor to tempt me, and the point was to flavor the wine. It was spent in mind. Your post got me thinking when you said you almost made a mistake and composted it.I suspect either too much flavor would be stripped, or it might taste too boozy, but I wonder if there is any _other_ use for pepper wine pulp.
> 
> Sweet fermented hot pepper relish?
> 
> I'd have to taste the wine to know if the idea is completele lunacy, or if there was any reason to even consider the thought, but you got me wondering.


I taste everything. Fruit pulps could easily be used as a pie filling. The alcohol bakes off, of course, and sugar is needed. But there very definitely is flavor left over. The relish idea sounds interesting. I'll bet there's lot's of recipes that could use pulp. You know, I think the pulp is an under used and unappreciated culinary ingredient.

The pepper pulp had lots of flavor left but I still decided to add more peppers, didn't want to take a chance. PLUS it had a boatload of happy yeast wanting to party. And they did - 1.080 to 1.060 in 24 hours. When I'm around 1.020 it'll get more sugar and a bit of nutrient...and then again later....and maybe even again.


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## BigDaveK (Nov 7, 2022)

vinny said:


> I keep citric acid on hand as well. What ratio do you use when mixing it up for cleaning?


I don't really have a set ratio. Maybe I should experiment!?

It's great for lime and rust, coffee makers, windows. OMG my toilets look brand new! I keep finding new uses for it. The only down side is that some things may need a couple hours for it to work. But, gee, I think we're familiar with patience. And the great thing is that I'm not using mysterious chemicals!


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## BigDaveK (Nov 18, 2022)

After 3 feedings I transferred the Black Hungarian Dessert to secondary.
By my calculations it about 13.5% ABV and with luck should finish close to 20%.
I think any pepperhead would love this wine. The sweet pepper flavor of the Black Hungarian is still there but the heat comes a little faster than the regular Black Hungarian wine. And I taste no alcohol at all! I had a bit more than a glass left after transfer and drank it rather quickly because it was so darn good! It took a few minutes but I thought, "Whoa, yup there's alcohol!"




And then I decided I didn't want to wast the pulp - Black Hungarian Wine Jam.
1 cup pulp, almost 2 cups sugar, bit of lemon juice, cooked to boiling.
REALLY thick, REALLY good, perfect amount of heat for me.
Cream cheese and crackers first up. Might make a nice filling for palacsinta (a Hungarian crepe).


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## BigDaveK (Dec 25, 2022)

Racked the Black Hungarian yesterday when the power came back on and the flavor has definitely changed.
It's still wonderfully fruity with a bit of spice. Like some of my other pepper wines it tastes like a fruit wine with added spice and I'm very happy. But the heat comes faster now, all at once rather than slowly building. Very interesting.
I don't know where it came from but I thought a banana flavor would put this over the top. I'll make it again next year and I made a note about the banana. We'll see if I have the same opinion in a couple months.

Had some left over after topping, sweetened it a bit, and the fruitiness popped, spice still there, heat was tamed just a little. I wish I'd started this months earlier - it's a fantastic winter wine.


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