Wine From Koyusa Dogwood.

[ICELIA]

Last fall I picked some Koyusa Dogwood berries and made a 5 gallon test batch.
The berry is a large (50 cent peice size) soft fleshy fruit that is sweet and very good.
I have made Jelly out of them and that was a real success, so since I was getting into wine I decided to try these out for wine.

After aging 4 months in Carboy I bottled, and then a further 6 months in the bottle.

About 2 weeks ago I got to try the first bottle.
And for a test it went really well. ( it was slightly Spritzy but that was my fault for not degassing properly)

The flavor is like a peachy persimmon. Very light.
I am going to modify my recipe this go around with more fruit and I am going to back sweeten this time. ( I have dissolved some sugar in a glass to see what it would be like, and it really brings out the flavor)

Has anyone tried this? I am really in-love with the flavor. The Wikipedia page notes that they are used as wine, but so-far I haven't been able to find anyone else who has done it.
So I created my own recipe.

If there is interest, I can post it here.

 

[robie]

Sounds delish! Looks nice and bubbly, maybe the CO2 is a good thing.

Not very many know about this fruit, so keep us informed about how it goes and your recipe changes.

By the way, nice photos.

 

[ICELIA]

Sounds delish! Looks nice and bubbly, maybe the CO2 is a good thing.

Not very many know about this fruit, so keep us informed about how it goes and your recipe changes.

By the way, nice photos.

Thanks Robie, I will post my recipe and my changes here. The bubbly makes it kinda like weak champaign. makes me want to try to make a sparkling wine sometime.

Mistakes can sometimes be good I suppose.

 

[ICELIA]

Btw here are a few photos of my little helper while we were de-stemming them. She loves to pick fruit of all kinds.

The last photo you can see how I was running them through the blender to pulp them.

 

[robie]

A real cutie and very helpful I am sure!
That fruit really are unusual looking.

 

[pjd]

I did not know those were edible! I have a tree of them.

 

[ICELIA]

I did not know those were edible! I have a tree of them.

They are really amazing. Right now they aren't ready but this fall give one a try you will love the flavor.

 

[KatieB]

Say - will you post your Dogwood fruit wine recipe? I've wanted to try making some and I'm stoked to see someone's done it successfully! Thanks.

 

[Julie]

I have some in my freezer, thanks Terry0220, and will be starting a batch this weekend. I, also, read where it is suppose to be a popular wine.

 

[ffemt128]

There is one of those trees on the next street over. Never knew what they were and was afraid to taste them without knowing.

 

[Terry0220]

After reading this,,I just might go out and pick some of those berries and freeze,,,or they will be there for you Julie,

 

[Pipes]

I would love the recipe! I have a tree in my front yard!

 

[CaraMarie]

Can I have the recipe to make the berry wine and jam we have an overabundance of berries.

 

[Karen Mongeon]

I'm new to this and have 4 dogwood trees in my yard. I'd love the recipe too.

 

[cmason1957]

I wouldn't hold my breath for someone to respond with a recipe. This post is quite old, 2013.

 

[Karen Mongeon]

I was wondering if I freeze the fruit which should make it easier to extract the juice. Place them in a muslin bag and then in boiling water that way you would not have to deal with the tiny seeds and the skin.

 

[Johnd]

I was wondering if I freeze the fruit which should make it easier to extract the juice. Place them in a muslin bag and then in boiling water that way you would not have to deal with the tiny seeds and the skin.

Grapes have seeds and skin, no big deal. Boiling will set the pectin in the fruit and make it hard to clear. Consider freezing, thawing, mashing, adding water and sugar to get to a good starting SG, then ferment. You can keep the fruit in a muslin bag if you like.

 

[Karen Mongeon]

Thank you.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I haven’t noted anyone’s answer so a guess on what to do with Korean dogwood (but I have fermented a relative) The basic recipe for Cornelian dogwood was: (this fruit is native to Eastern Europe, my test of it gave a juice with 1.043 gravity, pH 2.87 and a TA of 4.22wt%.) Cornelian dogwood is high acid and needs to be treated much the same as cranberry pulp.

* freeze fruit, thaw and mash (has a fairly large seed in it )
* for my dogwood 5 pounds of fruit per gallon. Add to primary with approximately 3 quarts of water. Sulphite with 0.2 grams meta. Add 1 tsp Pectic enzyme. Hold a day to kill any microbes
* add sugar to get to 1.090 specific gravity, approximately 2.4 lb (1.1 Kg), add yeast energizer .5 t, and diammonium phosphate 0.5 t.
* add yeast
* ferment with pulp in primary till 1.010 gravity, approximately 5 days, filter through a nylon bag, squeeze the bag to collect as much juice as possible.
* transfer liquid to a 4 liter bottle, top off with water to reach 3/4 inch from the top, treat with 0.1 gram metabisulphite, add airlock and continue to ferment till .950 or less gravity, approximately a month
* rack to a gallon jug, leave lees behind, treat with 0.1 gram metabisulphite.
* age at least 9 months.
* rack off lees backsweeten to 1.015 gravity or as desired from bench trial. Add 0.1 gram meta. Bottle.
************************************************
I haven’t found test numbers on Korean dogwood, so this is guessing that it is similar to Cornelian dogwood. Wonder how to find some fruit to test? closest I see is korean dogwood shows up on the web in Chicago’s Morton arboretum.
Question? Is the taste of your fruit similar to chewing raw cranberry? This is about where Cornelian falls. When heated Cornelian forms a pectin jelly like cranberry.

GOOD LUCK !

 

[bitterbad]

Just picked a bunch of these, after I'm done making my first grape wine I'm going to make a wine out of these. I also live near some trees that have the other kind of dogwood berry, the smaller red ones, I was thinking of just combining the two into a mixed dogwood berry wine. I'm also thinking I'll try to discard the skins, since it's not very flavorful and kind of bitter; think this is a good idea?