Spring Rhubarb Wine

You will need

• Rhubarb stalks (leaves discarded)1.4 kg
• Sugar1.2 kg
• Precipitated chalk (calcium carbonate)small measured dose
• Pectic enzymeper dose
• Campden tablet1
• Waterto 4.5 L
• White wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Rhubarb

  Pull (do not cut) stalks when they are a good length and firm and the leaf has fully unfurled; very late-season stalks toughen.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Wipe (do not peel) the stalks, discard every scrap of leaf — the leaves are poisonous — and slice thin.

2. 2

   The lesson here is acid. Rhubarb is sharp not from the friendly tartaric/malic of most fruit but from oxalic acid, which is harsh and, in quantity, an irritant. The traditional fix is to stir in a small, measured dose of precipitated chalk, which reacts with the oxalic acid and drops it out as a sediment. Do this to the crushed stalks in a little water and let it settle before you build the must.

3. 3

   Layer the sliced stalks with the sugar and leave overnight to draw the juice, or crush under cooled boiled water; add a campden tablet and wait 24 hours.

4. 4

   Add pectic enzyme, top to 4.5 L, take a reading (about 1.088), and pitch yeast and nutrient.

5. 5

   Ferment on the pulp two or three days only — long contact makes it too sharp — then strain to a demijohn.

6. 6

   Rack when clear; taste for balance. Bottle. A pale, surprisingly wine-like result.