wine 101: non-friuit wines

For the past month I have explained how I make wine out of fruit - berries, apples, pears, etc. But you can make wine out of quite a few non-fruits as well - pumpkins, honey, flowers, mint, lemon balm, etc. The biggest difference between these two kinds of wines is the time it takes for them to become tasty. Fruit wine can be drunk pretty soon after first fermentation, but some non-fruit wines often require a year to age in order to be drinkable. I'm putting in some pumpkin wine soon, so it will be ready by autumn next year!

Here are a few non-fruit recipes thanks to my Food Not Lawns winemaking mentor, Carey.

Mead (Honey Wine)
1.2 quarts pure local honey (buckwheat gives a hearty flavor; clover gives a delicate flavor)
1 gallon of water
wine yeast

Pour honey into your vessel. if your water is still warm, but not hot, that works the best. Do not boil honey! Add yeast. Ferment. Often mead is drinkable as soon as it is done with the first ferment, but if you don't like the taste, age it.

Lemon Balm Wine
1 quart loosely packed lemon balm leaves and stems
1 gallon water
3-5 cups sugar
1 package yeast

Boil lemon balm leaves and stems in one gallon of water. Let cool and strain into a one gallon jug. Add sugar according to your taste. Add yeast. Ferment! This wine is good right after first ferment.

Flower Wines
1 quart loosely packed flower petals (dandelion, lilac, rose, redbud, peony, anything fragrant of plentiful)
1 gallon water
4-6 cups white sugar
1 package wine yeast

Remove any green parts from your flowers. Boil flower petals with water and let cool to body temperature. Add sugar and yeast. Flower wines notoriously take a long time to age, perhaps a year or more. But they are worth the time. You can also replace part of the water with grape juice (no need to boil it). Use pure juice, with no corn syrup or preservatives in it.