Tuesday, October 30 2007
Happy Halloween!
This is my favorite time of year. Not only is it a great time for the celebration of tooth rotting candy consumption (and me with a cleaning appointment tomorrow morning) and extorting said candy from long-suffering neighbours, it marks the fall and a return to heavy meals and big red wines to accompany them, not to mention port and cigars! What, I ask you, is not to love?
I decorate a little around the house, just because I don't have children of my own, so I need to maintain a sense of childishness at all times. Here's my garden:
Okay, I know it's silly. But rubber rats are all part of the fun--as are pumpkins! I ran across a recipe for pumpkin wine, on Food For Thought, which has more information about pumpkins than I even knew existed. I've never made pumpkin wine--although I've judged and tasted everything from peapod to tomato wine, it's never been inflicted on me. But it looks interesting, so I thought I'd reproduce it:
Pumpkin Wine Recipe
- 9.5 lbs fresh pumpkin (peeled and chopped)
- 1 lb raisins
- 6.5 lbs sugar
- 6 tsp acid blend
- 10 drops liquid pectic enzyme
- Yeast
- 1.5 tsp potassium sorbate
Peel and chop the fleshy part of a pumpkin a 14.5 lb pumpkin yielded 9.5 lbs usable flesh. Chop the flesh into chunks about 1"x1"x0.5" in size. don't use any campden tablets and just mixed the dry yeast into the must. The raisins were chopped and added. Used only about 5 lbs sugar initially, add the rest a little later.
I'm assuming this makes 19 litres (5 US-gallons) If anyone tries it, be sure to let me know . . . but it's okay not to send me a bottle.
However, if you're looking for a great wine to match pumpkin pie, you're in luck. I've had it with Riesling Icewine style and it's pretty darn good, especially if your pie has cinnamon, ginger and cloves in it. The sweet and aromatic spice counters the lush fruit very nicely.
Off to set up my diorama--miniature Stonehenge, here I come!
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