Cherry Wine

About the dish

From "Winemaking, liqueurs, etc." in Erken's "Stor kokebok" (1914). The recipe is written as a ratio recipe where sugar and water are reckoned per liter of juice, and therefore suits both a demijohn and a 40-liter cask. Erken recommends "the ordinary preserving cherries," that is, common morellos/cooking cherries.

How to make it

1. 1

   Crush the berries

   Use fully ripe cooking cherries. Crush the berries, but not all the pits.

2. 2

   Press the juice

   Wring the berries through a berry cloth the next day.

3. 3

   Steep again

   Pour a few liters of water over the crushed berries again, let it stand for 24 hours, stir well, strain, and mix with the rest of the juice. Allow 3/4 liter of water for each liter of juice.

4. 4

   Sugar and acid

   Dissolve 200 g sugar (preferably demerara) in each liter of mixed juice and water, and add the tartaric acid.

5. 5

   Raisins or yeast

   Soak the raisins in lukewarm water, crush or chop them, and wring them out together with the berries. For a 40-liter cask, use 1 kg raisins or wine yeast.

6. 6

   Fill and ferment

   Fill the cask or demijohn completely. When the wine has come properly into fermentation, insert the fermentation bung, seal it with melted, dry paraffin, and place the vessel in the cellar.

7. 7

   Maturing

   After half a year, bottle the wine and store it in the cellar. In time it becomes strong, very flavorful, and perfectly clear.

8. 8

   Variant

   If you have sour, large, juicy berries, the water can be left out; use 125 g sugar per liter of juice in that case, otherwise the same method.