I've been watching a TV series on SBS called 'Gourmet Farmer', and I can only think of what I want to do in the future. I don't really feel the need to become a migrant to the city, and I know that working all the time is not something that I have ever wanted to do. Even so, I still need to work out a way to support myself - and that is always a problem. So I still sit and think things over as I have done for a while. Maybe one day I will be able to work it all out.
Yesterday saw the production of piles of good products for the winter chill - jars of pickled chillies, cucumbers and zucchinis, plus pots full of passata. I am a huge fan of the oven-cooked variety because of the sweeter, almost smokey flavours that it has compared to the pot-cooked variety. But both are good. There should be a very nice supply of tomato in the freezer for the coming winter.
I am starting to think of brewing right now. I have made cider and various beers before, but I am really thinking about shooting out into the world of wild fruit wines - namely blackberry wine. We have around 30 plants of the cultivated balckberry Waldo in at the moment, but the first real crop is probably going to be next spring. Whilst they are growing (and growing really well I might add), the wild blackberries are starting to ripen, and they have attracted my attention. A little bit of reading from a wine-making book suggests that a sugar level of around 20% in grape berries is ideal for making a good wine. A test of a half-ripe Waldo berry yesterday revealed a level of just under 10%. This means that I may have to add sugar to the mix to amp it up - it just depends on whether the sugar content is right in the berries that I pick. I am looking for a sweet-ish wine, not something insipid! If it works, I can't see why it couldn't be something to think of doing professionally. We shall just have to wait and see. And the name of such a product? Well, I've got a few potentials. You shall just have to wait and see.
I think I will have to take some photos and put them up on here. That will be tomorrows job.
Keep on diggin!
No comments:
Post a Comment