Mint and Ginger...

Mint and Ginger…

No. Not together. That would be worse than dodgy. Wacked the mint in the demijohn today, and continue to be suspicious of it. However, did get the ginger on the go today, and this I am excited about. It’s going to be a fortified wine using brandy as the fortifier. It’s supposed to be a real winter warmer. Here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:
4.5 litres (8 pints) water
1.4 kg (3 lb) sugar
One lemon – zest and juice
1 tsp fresh yeast
110g (4 oz) raisins: stoned and chopped
40g (1½ oz) ginger, peeled and bruised
150 ml (5 fl oz) brandy

Method:
Add the water, sugar, lemon zest and bruised ginger to a very clean saucepan. Bring to the boil, simmer for 1 hour. Remove any scum and transfer to a large bowl. When it is luke-warm, add the yeast and leave transfer to a brew bucket.

Next day, strain the lemon juice and add to the mix along with the chopped raisins.

Stir the wine every day for 14 days. Add the brandy. Stop the vessel down by degrees and in a few weeks it will be ready to bottle.