Yew Wine

[bitterbad]

I just realized that I live next to two yew shrubs. The entire bush except for the fleshy pseudo-fruits are deadly poisonous, including the seed inside of the berry, but the berry itself is edible and is quite sweet, tastes like figs, to me.

I imagine making wine from this would be quite laborious, as it would involve picking all the berries from the bush, and seperating all of them from the seeds, and probably double checking to make sure that there are no seeds left, and the berries are very small. I still might try it though. What do yall think?


(Ripe Yew Berries. (By: Frank Vincentz GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2)

 

[Ohio Bob]

How adventurous are you? If your hell bent on it, probably lightly press the fruit to extract the juice. I can’t imagine it’s efficient to remove the seeds from each berry. Or possibly freeze the berries to further extract juice without damaging the seed.

 

[bitterbad]

How adventurous are you? If your hell bent on it, probably lightly press the fruit to extract the juice. I can’t imagine it’s efficient to remove the seeds from each berry. Or possibly freeze the berries to further extract juice without damaging the seed.

Hmm, I don't think that'd really work. Maybe lightly pressing them just to make the seed extraction easier, but they're very round and thin around the seed so just pressing them wouldn't get much juice.

Based on the tastes, I can only imagine the reward for going for this wine would be amazing, it really is like a much sweeter fig, a bit floral too.

 

[winemaker81]

I did a quick search for yew wine recipes and found nothing. This is a very dangerous area for experimentation -- if you miss a few seeds, or if cracking the seeds causes poison to leech out, the results may be deadly. If anyone gets sick or dies from drinking it, your legal problems will be ugly.

Personally, I'd not do it as there are too many things to make wine from that are not deadly.

 

[BigDaveK]

I've always been an advocate for personal freedom in choice and action as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. But...I would think about this. And think some more. And then think some more.

Personally, my wine To-Do list is long (and getting longer!) and I wouldn't jeopardize not finishing it.

 

[bitterbad]

Personally, I'd not do it as there are too many things to make wine from that are not deadly.

Speak for yourself, I only make wine out of what I can forge, and at this time of year nothing else edible is blooming, and don't want to fork up money for large amounts of fruit or honey; I also don't have kids, i wouldn't be giving it away, and I don't do bulk projects beyond 5 gallons, at most I can only imagine getting like one gallon with how small these things are, there wouldn't be room for careless mistakes of scale, I really don't mind spending a few hours going through every berry and then doing it again, and if a seed gets mixed in there I'd definitely notice it later on when racking. Also it's the best tasting fruit I've ever tasted. The draw is strong.

Personally, my wine To-Do list is long (and getting longer!) and I wouldn't jeopardize not finishing it.

At this point I'm almost done with mine, I still have those kousa berries in the freezer but I think that's the only thing left this year until next summer.