Marrow Wine

You will need

• Ripe marrow, grated (skin and all)2.0 kg
• Sugar1.3 kg
• Raisins, chopped300 g
• Root ginger, bruised20 g
• Lemons, juice of2
• Oranges, juice of1
• Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
• Waterto 4.5 L

Picking it at the right moment

• Vegetable marrow

  Ready when a courgette has been left to grow large, the skin has hardened, and your thumbnail no longer marks it easily.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Every allotment ends the summer with a marrow that grew too big — this old thrift wine turns that glut into something worth keeping.

2. 2

   Grate the whole marrow, skin and all (discard only very hard seeds), into the bucket with the chopped raisins, bruised ginger, and the citrus juice — marrow is bland and near acid-free, so the ginger, raisins and citrus give it flavour, body and acid.

3. 3

   Pour on 3 L cooled boiled water and the sugar dissolved warm; top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.090).

4. 4

   Pitch the yeast and nutrient; ferment on the pulp four or five days, stirring daily, then strain.

5. 5

   Rack as it clears; this needs time and a firm hand with the flavourings.

6. 6

   A golden, gingery wine from a vegetable nobody wanted — age a year.