The variety Riesentraube was recorded in about 1852 in the Philadelphia area as being used for wine. Someone I know used that variety ( it's widely avaialable now since Curtis Choplin, an SSE member, got it out of the German Seed Bank from Prof Klaprott in the early 90's and made it available to SSE members initially) to make wine from it several times, sent me two bottles and it was excellent, very much like a pale dry sherry, actually. He wrote an article for it, and his adapted recipe from the 1852 one in OTV, which was an international newsletter about heirloom tomatoes that Craig LeHoullier and I used to publish. I have back copies of those OTV's still here and could search for that volume, that #, and post the recipe if you wish. But I have no time to do it now, so Larry, it's up to you to e-mail me, I think you still have my e-mail addy, or PM me off of here, and remind me sometime in early summer. If I get to it before then, I'll just find this thread and list it. BTW, although the name of the variety is written in the German language, it's not specifically a German tomato. it was grown in many countries in Europe and the name was known in several languages. I think I remember that in one country the name translated out as Goat T-t b/c the small fruits have a nipple at the blossom end. So Larry, do I go on a search and destroy mission at some point or do you want to keep looking for a recipe? Carolyn

Lots of websites, just do a search on winemaking and get them; but if you want good old fashioned homemade wine, here's the family recipe: Squash the grapes until you have juice, then strain into a gallon jug until its 4/5 full. Dissolve a cup or two of sugar in water and add. Wine is basically vinegar made without contact with air, so that's the tricky part. You can get an airlock stopper at a wine- or beer-making store for a dollar or two, but you can also just put in a cork with a hole in it and some rubber tubing. Run the tubing down into a pitcher of water so the end is under water. The CO2 from the wine will escape as bubbles, but no air can get back in. Put the whole contraption in a dark, no too cold, not to warm place. After a while it will start to bubble and probbaly some will spill out the tube, so you need to change the water in the pitcher when it turns purple and you get fruit flies (adding a little bleach to the water wont hurt) This process uses natural yeasts, so you dont need to add those. After the bubbling has stopped, strain off the dead yeasts and bottle it. This is not a vintage wine that will be best 20 years from now, but a little aging wont hurt. One thing - EVERYTHING that touches the wine from start to finish must be absolutely clean and sanitized - water with bleach in it will do - bottles, gallon jug, sugarwater measuring cups, stirrer, tube and stopper or airlock. Treat the preparation area like an operating room, in other words. Keep notes so next year you'll remember what you did wrong and can make adjustments.

I did copy, and paste, but their is some stuff other--- freezing thowing help fruit sofen I would say start off with store bought fruit, but not grapes to expensive(1)Prepare the wine making produce by cutting up larger fruit, busting skins on smaller fruit, chopping up fruits such as raisins, and bruising any produce like ginger root, etc.(sodium metabi"sufite)when crushing) Also, any large pits should be removed. It is also important to understand that you can over-process the produce. Food processors, blenders and such should not be used for this purpose. Doing so will cause too much bitterness from the skin and seeds of the produce to be incorporated into the resulting wine.--- you could boil fruit but just to kill germs, boiling long=starch that will cloud it up.I have half wine,and half fluff. (2)Stir together all of the wine making ingredients called for, EXCEPT for the YEAST(If you boiled hold of till cool pectic enzym), into a primary fermenter. Collect any pulp in a fermentation bag and submerge the bag into the wine making mixture(do so it's eayer). Add water to equal the batch to 5 gallons. Then add 5 Campden Tablets. They should be crushed up before adding. Do not add the wine yeast at this point in the process. Adding the wine yeast at the same time you add the Campden Tablets will only result in destroying the yeast.-- not true stuning wild yeast so inaculate yeast can over power(I have a funny story as of yeasterday about boiling wild yeast dead)--- you can also boil the fruit for a short time, or pour boiling water over it 180 degrees will kill the bad bacteria, you can also freeze the fruit breaking down the cells, and the fruit will crush easyer.-- first freeze On the vine is ice wine."WINERIES"let it rot. (3)Cover the fermenter with a thin, clean towel and wait 24 hours. During this waiting period the Campden Tablets are sterilizing the juice with a mild sulfur gas. After 24 hours the gas leaves the container making it then safe to add the wine yeast. (4)Sprinkle the wine making yeast over the surface of the juice and then cover with a thin, clean towel(or lid). Allow this mixture (must) to ferment for 5 to 7 days. You should start to see some foaming activity within 24 hours of adding the yeast. Typically, 70% of the fermentation activity will occur during this 5 to 7 day period(but can be(faster) slower depending on high acidic juice,-but who says you can't make lemonade out of lemon juice(a toping up thing)LOOK At Jackkeller.net for requested recipes even burdock won 3rd). *before syphoning or pouring(in a funnel to bottle=(*secondary** fermentation) add a campden tablet (5)After 5 to 7 days remove the pulp from the fermenter and discard(or save add sugar for second wine--I use 1/2 the original water(but I don't like light wine)). Siphon the wine into a secondary fermenter in a careful manner, so as to leave the sediment behind. You can easily remove the pulp by lifting out the fermentation bag. Wring out any excess juice from the bag. Siphon the wine off the sediment without stirring it up. Get as much liquid as you can, even it some of the sediment comes with it. If necessary, add water back to 5 gallons. (6)Attach a wine making air-lock and fill it approximately half-way with water. Allow the juice to ferment for an additional 4-6 week period or until it becomes completely clear. You may want to verify with your hydrometer that the fermentation has completed before continuing on to step 7. The hydrometer should read between 0.990 and 0.998 on the Specific Gravity scale. Be sure to give the wine plenty of time to clear up before bottling. (7)Once the wine has cleared completely, siphon it off of the sediment again. Stir in 5 Campden Tables that have been crushed and then bottle. When siphoning off the sediment, unlike the first time you siphoned the wine, you want to leave all of the sediment behind, even if you lose a little wine. (8)they usually don't add--after your wine is finished get a stirer after you syphoned off gunk(best to one of those stirers you attach to a drill or a wine saver(a attachment added) to release carbon unless you wouldn't mind a fizzy wine that will mask some of the taste= not a sparkling wine) If you guys do want a online brew shop to check out I found the cheapest I can find from searching time and time again.

I've seen recipes for skeeter pee on the winemaking sites I read, but being so far from citrus country it has never been an option. I can imagine it's great though! Jalapeno wine sounds weird, but I'd try it. Couldn't hurt... ok, it might hurt a little - in passing! It was tough to clean so many pears. I'm looking to fashion a fruit press for the next time I try to make that much. How much juice did you wind up with from your apples? Was it 2 carboys? People don't always realize that in pioneer days, and when Johnny Appleseed was traveling around, one of the main reasons for apple trees was for hard cider! Without refrigeration, fermentation was one of the few ways to preserve a lot of fruit. It had so many uses too! When your batch is done, a nice wedge of pie and a sip of the wine will make for a nice evening's dessert!