Hello from Ohio!

[BigDaveK]

I've been a gardener for 15 years, a canner and fermenter for 12 or so and wine making was always on the list of things to do. I also make my own yogurt, sausage, and bread. With so many things to do at harvest - and a job - wine dreams were always put off till the next year. 2021 was finally the "next year" and I have 2 gallons each of grape, apple, pear and a gallon each of raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and ground cherry. Next year I'll add rhubarb. I think I'm very lucky because all the raw ingredients came from my yard! Did a lot of reading, stumbled on this site, finally decided to join. Wow, there's a boatload of information here!!! I have a question or two and I'll post to the appropriate forum.

BTW, I recently started making hot sauce with my fermented peppers. They range from "mildly spicy" to "hot and spicy" to "oh-my-God-I'm-dying!" My Trinidad Scorpian hot sauce is like throwing a Molotov cocktail at food. I love it!! As a reference, a jalapeno is somewhere around 10,000 scoville and the trinidad scorpian is...drumrioll...1,200,000!

Again, so glad I found this site!! Thanks for being around!!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT Big Dave! You know you can make hot pepper wine too. Many start with a citrus or pineapple base. I’m going to give it a try next year. I grow hot peppers, but not that hot .

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk.

Ohio is good gardening country, I liked the variety of crops that Columbus let me do. ,,, Ground cherry, humm, ,,,,, I feel like I should invite myself over next time I visit grand kids. I have been wondering what that fruit will do.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT Big Dave! You know you can make hot pepper wine too. Many start with a citrus or pineapple base. I’m going to give it a try next year. I grow hot peppers, but not that hot .

Yeah, I've read about the hot pepper wine and I'd like to try it, too. Since I'm just starting, though, I'll get my feet wet following recipes until I feel comfortable with all the steps. Oh, and since I'm a canner I HAD to make scorpion jelly. Sweet and serious heat! So good!

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk.

Ohio is good gardening country, I liked the variety of crops that Columbus let me do. ,,, Ground cherry, humm, ,,,,, I feel like I should invite myself over next time I visit grand kids. I have been wondering what that fruit will do.

I'm curious about the ground cherry, also. Sweet and tart. Prolific little plants. Wine is a great way to use up the harvest. Keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out ok.

 

[VinesnBines]

Welcome! Jalapeno makes a really nice cooking/blending wine. My last batch was blended with just enough Chardonnay to make a nice sipping wine. The wine is super easy; the only down side is that it only takes 8 jalapenos per gallon.

 

[my wine]

Welcome to the forum!! Where in Ohio?

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Rembee]

Welcome to WMT! We will be happy to answer any questions that you have and help you along on your wine journey.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to the forum!! Where in Ohio?

I see you're near Dayton. Raised in Cleveland, went to University of Dayton (in the 70's), and now I live in Logan, the Hocking Hills.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk.

Ohio is good gardening country, I liked the variety of crops that Columbus let me do. ,,, Ground cherry, humm, ,,,,, I feel like I should invite myself over next time I visit grand kids. I have been wondering what that fruit will do.

The ground cherry has been in bulk for about 2 months and I realized I haven't tasted it for a couple weeks. It's good, a little sweet, and has a VERY strong pineapple flavor. I'm happy so far and really curious where it will go. At this point I think I'll be growing more this year.

 

[ChuckD]

At this point I think I'll be growing more this year.

With ground cherries I don’t think you have a choice . I remember my grandma had them in her garden and they came up every year like weeds.

 

[VinesnBines]

I love the ground cherry but never thought I had enough to make wine. How much did you use? I may try growing more than just the volunteers.

 

[Khristyjeff]

Sounds like you struck a chord with the ground cherries. That was my favorite pie growing up. And welcome to the forum!

 

[BigDaveK]

I love the ground cherry but never thought I had enough to make wine. How much did you use? I may try growing more than just the volunteers.

I had 3 plants of "Aunt Molly." Like many fruits from the garden seems there's never enough ripe all at once to do something. I would eat some fresh and freeze some. When I started the wine making adventure just a few months ago I noticed most recipes called for 3-4 pounds of fruit. I weighed what I had in the freezer and it was 3 and a half pounds. It's like The Universe was telling me I HAD to make wine!!

I can marinara sauce, pizza sauce, and "Rotel" sauce every year and always freeze my tomatoes first. Freezing breaks them down and speeds up processing. Seems like it worked for the ground cherry because after primary the bag had mostly skins and seeds.

 

[ChuckD]

It's like The Universe was telling me I HAD to make wine!!

Never argue with the universe!