# Onion and a garlic wine for cooking



## pgentile (Feb 11, 2018)

Decided to push the envelope on my wine making boundaries this weekend. Did a bit of googling and came up with a few recipes for onion and garlic wines. Considered a beet wine, but decided that will be next winters boredom project 

These wines will be for cooking and marinating, but I've read a few who feel that the vidalia onion wine is actually a decent drinker after a year better at 2.

3.5 gl Onion Wine:

3 # Vidalia onions
3 # potatoes
3 # raisins
6 lemons/zest/juice
6 # sugar
acid blend
pectic enzyme
yeast nutrient

Shredded potatoes and onions, boiled for 30-40 minutes, strained, added other ingredients.

2.5 gl Garlic Wine:

1.5 # garlic
1 # raisin
2 lemon/zest/juice
4 # sugar
acid blend
pectic enzyme
yeast nutrient

Roasted garlic in foil until caramelized, then boiled for 20 min, strained added other ingredients.

Waiting for them to cool down further and then going to use excess packets of yeast ec-1118 and 71b-1122.

Onion wine ended up at 1.082 and the garlic 1.078.


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## sour_grapes (Feb 11, 2018)

pgentile said:


> Decided to push the envelope on my wine making boundaries this weekend. Did a bit of googling and came up with a few recipes for onion and garlic wines.



I bet the house smelled _amazing_.


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## pgentile (Feb 11, 2018)

sour_grapes said:


> I bet the house smelled _amazing_.


It still does. Also as far as pre-fermentation taste goes, the onion wine tastes like a bland sweet oniony potato soup and the garlic wine tastes like a sweet punch in the mouth of garlic.


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## Jericurl (Feb 11, 2018)

Brace yourself. It's probably going to stink to high heaven, but the end product is well worth it.


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## pgentile (Feb 11, 2018)

Jericurl said:


> Brace yourself. It's probably going to stink to high heaven, but the end product is well worth it.


I will be prepared


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## pgentile (Feb 11, 2018)

A few more photos:


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## balatonwine (Feb 12, 2018)

To each their own. Not judging. Live and let live.

But, personally, making garlic and onion essential oils is easier. And maybe better for cooking.

And, IMHO, eating the whole plant is always better than just its "essences" .


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## pgentile (Feb 12, 2018)

balatonwine said:


> To each their own. Not judging. Live and let live.
> 
> But, personally, making garlic and onion essential oils is easier. And maybe better for cooking.
> 
> And, IMHO, eating the whole plant is always better than just its "essences" .



I don't see where anyone is arguing against that. I don't disagree. That's common sense to me.

Just want to have some fun with wine making, sorry if it offends you.


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## Arne (Feb 12, 2018)

Keep track of the equiptment you use. Could be hard to get the oders out and you do not want to have the next batch tasting like onions or garlic. Or maybe you do. Good luck with it, Arne.


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## balatonwine (Feb 13, 2018)

pgentile said:


> sorry if it offends you.



Sighs..... It didn't "offend" me. What an odd comment. Especially after I took explicit pains to express the complete opposite in my first sentence.

Just expressing my opinion. I hoped I could do that here. Maybe I was wrong.....

But thanks for adding it is for fun. Having fun is good.


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## pgentile (Feb 13, 2018)

No worries everything was annoying me that day and I didn't have time to respond to what I should have in your reply. 



balatonwine said:


> But, personally, making garlic and onion essential oils is easier. And maybe better for cooking.



I've made infused oils and stuff from everything in the garden over the years, bored with it. Also oils and wines are used differently in cooking. I don't deglaze with oil and make gravy.



balatonwine said:


> And, IMHO, eating the whole plant is always better than just its "essences" .



Couldn't the same thing be said for grapes? Onions and potatoes were boiled then strained and squeezed. The garlic was caramelized, boiled, strained and squeezed. The garlic before being boiled was crazy sticker from the sugars in it. There are a large amounts of particles from the ingredients in the wine and will form a lees. So I think both are a little more than essence, in fact they went through a similar process to being crushed. Now sugar was added to the wines, but that happens with most non grape wines and even sometimes to grape wines.

IMHO


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## pgentile (Feb 24, 2018)

Racked the vidalia onion and the garlic wine today. Lees were the stinkiest to date. Cleaned the carboys, zero odor left behind.


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## G259 (Dec 29, 2018)

I'll ask a question out of curiosity: Why potatoes, is there a reason for them to be in the recipe? Is it a starch thing, and will yeast feed on that, as well as the sugar?


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## bobpf (Dec 30, 2018)

Very cool. Really interested in the results. Potatoes would not add any sugars unless you mashed them with a alpha amylase source (barley, alpha amylase powder, etc...), but might bring some body to the wine I would think. Keep up the posts and your thoughts about the process! Thanks.


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## pgentile (Dec 31, 2018)

G259 said:


> I'll ask a question out of curiosity: Why potatoes, is there a reason for them to be in the recipe? Is it a starch thing, and will yeast feed on that, as well as the sugar?



I followed recipes from Jack Keller and some others. I don't remember them explaining why they used them, but the recipes call for simmering potatoes and onions and then straining them discarding the pulp. I assume the potatoes are for mouthfeel and body. Starch might get converted to sugar in the process but not sure. Sugar is added to the recipe.



bobpf said:


> Very cool. Really interested in the results. Potatoes would not add any sugars unless you mashed them with a alpha amylase source (barley, alpha amylase powder, etc...), but might bring some body to the wine I would think. Keep up the posts and your thoughts about the process! Thanks.



I use the onion and garlic wines for cooking wines. Primarily de-glazing and such. Can't really tell is it adds anything different than grape wine for cooking, but all dishes have been good with it. Going to taste both when they hit one year. Onion is supposed to be drinkable. We shall see.


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## BernardSmith (Dec 31, 2018)

Potato wine has a long and illustrious history country history. Don't know so much about the reputation of onion wine but I would be surprised if it was not pleasantly drinkable.


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## pgentile (Dec 31, 2018)

BernardSmith said:


> Potato wine has a long and illustrious history country history.



So I have heard, same with beet wine, which is on my radar one of these years.


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## BernardSmith (Dec 31, 2018)

I have Peggy Hutchinson's book - Home Made Wine Secrets which has no publication date but which I think was published in the 30's or 40's (although many of her recipes call for spreading the yeast on a slice of bread)- and she has two or three recipes for beet wine.


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