Wednesday 25 April 2007

Recipe for German Rhubarb Wine


As promised here is the recipe for German rhubarb wine, It is a very old one and Mme Grognonne has had it in her family for a long time. I believe her grandmother extracted it from a German officer in the first world war somewhere along the Siegfried line, where she over came him whilst she hanging out her washing. Mme Grognonne still wears his helmet and boots for gardening on wet days. Sadly his white gloves have long ago fallen pray to moths.

Old Fashioned German Rhubarb Wine
ingredients/
3 lbs. rhubarb (stalk only)
1/4 pt. white grape concentrate or 1/2 lb. of light raisins (chopped)
7 pts. water
2 1/4 lbs. sugar
1/4 tsp.tannin
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet (crushed)
1 pkg. wine yeast (champagne)
add the following in a linen straining or "hop" bag fromthe start of fermentation until SG 1.040: 3/4 oz. fresh ginger root (chopped)3/4 oz. whole cloves You will probably want to sweeten rhubarb wine back up a little beforebottling by adding 1/2 tsp. stabilizer (sorbate) and 1/4 to 1/2 lb.dissolved sugar (or to taste) per gallon. Makes 1 gal.
Please remember that the Janitor has surplus demijohns if you need them but under no circumstances should they be used without first sterilizing them. Some of you will recall the very nasty accident last summer when Penelope Pothleswaite took one the jars ,previously used for mixing weed killer, for making lemonade . The whole upper sixth were hospitalized for a month and matron was run off her feet empting bed pans.
footnote: If you are unable to get German rhubarb I beieve the local purple variety will work jsut as well.
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The photogrpah is the only existing one of Colonel Von Krompt, from whose family the recipe originated. I find there is a startling resemblence between he and Mme grognonne, athough of course thier moustaches differ greatly.

13 comments:

Sally Townsend said...

Is there no end to this girls versatilty ?

Sally Townsend said...

I meant versatile (ity) ? my Roget's Thesaurus is no help

Chris Stovell said...

Hello dear heart! I've been getting an older version of your adventures.. 20th April so pleased to find the new model. Good to see you again!

Inthemud said...

Please send janitor over with a demi john or two, my rhubarb is ready and waiting!

Pipany said...

Yummy sounds good - will give it a go xx

Sally Townsend said...

Hello dear, I'm back!

Un Peu Loufoque said...

gawd I thought you'd fallen in an opium den!

Inthemud said...

Hi Le Peu,
I did enjoy Bride & Prejudice, thought they managed to weave the original story line into the film well, though I did find all the singing and dancing a tad long! Aren't the Indian women so beautiful!

Aunt-Eunice said...

Will be drawing the man in doors attention to this - see if we can wean him off the dandelions this year!

Fennie said...

Ah so! Ausgezeichnet! I never associated Germany with rhubarb. It sounds the sort of vegetable that you try to explain to someone and their face goes steadily blanker and blanker. I did (yes really)have a repeat of this experience at some recent European 'do' when I found myself trying to explain to the Bulgarian chargé what a leek was. But they must have leeks in Bulgaria, I said. But he just went blank. I tried 'poirot' but that rang no bells either. So perhaps they do rhubarb instead. Prost!

Un Peu Loufoque said...

Fennie, I have the same trouble explaining Parsnips to Bretons would you believe!

Tattieweasle said...

Ha at last can get rid of rhubarb it is a bit like the hens at the moment - everywhere!!!!

Pondside said...

Sounds too scientific for me, but willing to try yours when you get the batch going. Hope you got my comments on the Purple Cow blog regarding codger from Ontario as I know the comments disappear. He is known to me and what you don't see is the exact same bobble hat as the younger whipper-snapper had! I trace my attraction to fuzzy bobbly bits to him.