# Vanilla-Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey Tea Wine Recipe - Suggestions?



## the_rayway (Dec 4, 2013)

Ok, even though it's December, I'm thinking about May! 
I'm planning my garden and what fruit I'm going to plant this year. Since we moved into our new house, we have been the lucky owners of a 'Man-Eating Rhubarb Plant'. Seriously, it's massive. And I've already dug out 4/5ths of it!

Last spring I tried a new canning recipe: Rhubarb Vanilla Jam with Earl Grey tea, I think of it as Cpt. Picard's favourite croissant spread  (I'm such a geek). 

Anyhoo, I popped open a jar the other day and HOLY SMOKES is it good. Like, I'm not giving any of this away for Christmas good. Has strong rhubarb flavour, with only a slight acid hit, smooth vanilla with not-to-much sweetness, and a nice orangy-tangy type of finish. 

Here's the jam recipe: 
8 c chopped rhubarb
4 c sugar
1 c 2x strength earl grey tea
1 vanilla bean, split & scraped
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt
Pectin
Recipe makes 2000mL of jam

Now, I would like to get these flavours into an experimental wine. Looking at 1 gallon to start, as part of the Wine of the Month Club in the spring.

What I'm thinking: 
*Primary*
16 cups chopped rhubarb
sugar to reach 1.095
Water to 1 gallon, made as a tea with Earl Grey, 1x strength
2 vanilla beans, split & scraped
Pectic enzyme
Yeast nutrient
Yeast energizer
Yeast - strain tbc

*Secondary:*
rack onto another 4 cups rhubarb 
1 vanilla bean

*Tertiary:*
At rackings, top up with 2x strength earl grey tea

*Final: *
Backsweeten. Use some vanilla extract if necessary to up the vanilla flavour.

Thoughts, ideas, input? Oak? Frozen acid adjustments to the rhubarb? I would really like to get the same sort of flavour profile as the jam at the end.

Raelene


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## vernsgal (Dec 5, 2013)

haha You sure come up with some interesting wines! I can't imagine the taste of rhubarb wine. I've done 2 fruit wines using vanilla beans but they're no where near aged enough to tell if I used too much or not enough. I was kinda following 1-2 beans per 6 gal. I don't really have any expertize to share but 3 beans in 1 gal sounds a little high . I'm sure someone who has used them will help out on that though.

I have been seeing more and more of the Earl Grey in wine recipes and it has me intrigued. When you say the tea at 1x strength are you saying (1 teabag/cup ) to a gal? ie: 16 cups to a gallon so add 16 bags to a gal of boiled water ,steeped and cooled? Probably a dummy question but I might like to try something like this and want to make sure I understood.lol


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## the_rayway (Dec 5, 2013)

Hey Kim,
My first mead was a rhubarb berry, as I had never made anything from scratch before it was a total dog's breakfast. Several volcanoes, the ABV ended up at like 16%, weird additions. I didn't even realize it was a mead and not a wine until about a month after pitching the yeast. Talk about a newbie.

1x strength means (to me) as per the tea directions on the box (1 bag/cup-ish). Earl Grey is a fantastic tea, and I have heard great things about it in both wine and mead. It has tannins because of the black tea, and the bergamot gives a nice citrus flavour. I think it has a decent amount of nutrients too(?)

I have used vanilla in a few meads, and just like you, they are too young for me to know for sure. However, from my research it seems that when vanilla is used in primary, much of the flavour is blown through the airlock. Also, when you use it in secondary, the extraction is not as good as, say, making an extract with 40% alcohol. I have also heard that the vanilla really falls to the back after ageing, so I wanted to ensure it was going to be enough to pull through.

I am also considering a medium toast oak with high vanillan content (maybe American?) to up the vanilla flavour so it is layered well and hopefully I get a nice, complex wine. Or, perhaps when I make the tea for the wine, I could steep the vanilla beans in the hot tea to get better extraction. Then I might be able to use less. Hmmm..

Thanks for the feedback - this pre-ferment-advice helps me gather such good info before jumping head-first into things


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## Stressbaby (Dec 5, 2013)

Raelene,

I've started building experimental wines from food recipes as well. I made a 1 gallon sweet potato wine based loosely on this recipe; sweet potato wine spices with star anise, lime, and ginger. Jury still out on that one, it is only a month old.

Your recipe looks very good. I would drop the OG back to 1.085 or so, since I imagine the rhubarb and tea flavors relatively mild. Be careful it doesn't get too tannic if you have to top up a lot using 2x tea. And I tend to agree with vernsgal, that may be more vanilla than you want.

I'm looking forward to this one!


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## jamesngalveston (Dec 5, 2013)

make a vanilla extraction...it may help with the flavor, and add to primary along with sugar....
i have to hand it to you ladies, you sure come up with some concoctions.
in roman times, they put everything in there wine,from spices to roots, to lead, to pine pitch, and blood.......i think you ladies have the romans beat...


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## the_rayway (Dec 5, 2013)

Stressbaby: is that recipe posted in our Wine of the Month club? Or elsewhere on the site? I'm very interested to see how it comes out at the end!

James: just like with cooking - what's the fun without some experimentation!! Although, I don't think I will put any lead, nor (hopefully) any blood into the mix. I prefer my wines to be, ahem, non-poisonous and vegetarian 

Thanks both for the suggestions! (I hadn't thought about the extra tannin in the tea...)


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## Stressbaby (Dec 6, 2013)

the_rayway said:


> Stressbaby: is that recipe posted in our Wine of the Month club? Or elsewhere on the site? I'm very interested to see how it comes out at the end!



Well what I was going to do was to save it until the time when I needed a WoMC post and didn't have any inspiration...is that cheating? 

But actually I've got an idea for Jan, Feb, and March already, and somewhere I need to fit that apricot port, so I don't know, maybe I'll make two posts for December.


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## the_rayway (Dec 6, 2013)

I won't tell if you won't  Are you also attempting an Apricot Port? That's awesome, hopefully we can compare notes!

My girlfriend has the supplies (yeast) I need to get the Port going, and she's coming by today for lunch. Hopefully I won't be too behind for December!


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