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MzAnnie

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Finally, after collecting and freezing these little gems, for the better half of the summer, the cactus figs are juiced and ready to go!!! I have convinced myself that this is the healthiest wine on the planet, that is, until the goji berries and passionfruits are ready!!!

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MzAnnie said:
Finally, after collecting and freezing these little gems, for the better half of the summer, the cactus figs are juiced and ready to go!!! I have convinced myself that this is the healthiest wine on the planet, that is, until the goji berries and passionfruits are ready!!!

Gorgeous....have fun.
 
I'm still trying to get my neighbors to give theirs up

Offer them WINE!!!! There is an Amish lady in town, here, that has laid claim to all the Prickly Pear patches here. So we keep making ours larger and larger!!! Have you ever made this wine before? Out of all the 'swamp swill' I have made, this is my fav! And saramc...next year I have informed my husband, that I will be getting one of those steam juicers you mentioned in an earlier post! :)
 
I have not made this wine before, and I honestly don't have a back supply to offer any up front, but would of course always offer from the finished product.
 
Dang, I would love to get a bunch of prickly pears for the 3 pounds of mesquite honey I bought at Trader Joe's. (When I got home I saw the scanner at the store had charged $1.49 for it. Yowz!)
 
Just in case someone thinks these survive in hot climate only...these cacti are cold hardy. I have two small, but growing and expanding, patches growing one mile south of Ohio River near Louisville, KY...and friends growing in NY, PA, NJ, ND, MN, SC, NC. For decades.

Hmm, I wonder if my TJ will have mesquite on error markdown also? I used it to make my mead.

MzAnnie...you will adore that steam juicer. If you haunt Amazon you will catch them on sale. I do not know if Amazon has a 'notify me' feature to use when item is on sale, back in stock, etc. If you invest in the stainless you will pass it down to your kids! And you can also find these seals that fit on glass bottles...you put the hot juice into clean, sanitized glass bottles and apply the seal and it vacuum seals. Amazing buggers which I have caught new in package on eBay also.
http://www.juicer-steamer.com/bottle-caps.html
 
MzAnnie said:
Finally, after collecting and freezing these little gems, for the better half of the summer, the cactus figs are juiced and ready to go!!! I have convinced myself that this is the healthiest wine on the planet, that is, until the goji berries and passionfruits are ready!!!

That looks beautiful!!

How did you go about juicing them? Just curious, thats awesome you mentioned goji berries I was just thinking about making goji wine, don't even know where to get half this stuff!
 
I made both PP and goji berry wine. The goji was made with dried berries I bought on-line and it is bottled now and I am pretty pleased with it. The prickly pear is still aging with some spices - It is clear, has beautiful color and tastes good, but I do not like its smell. So I'm trying to kill it with some cloves, cinnamon, vanilla beans and cardamom.
 
That looks beautiful!!

How did you go about juicing them? Just curious, thats awesome you mentioned goji berries I was just thinking about making goji wine, don't even know where to get half this stuff!
Juicing them was a pain, literally. But I only got three prickers in my hands instead of the forty thousand I got last year. I just put them in one of those as seen on tv, piece of crap, metal strainer, (I knew it was good for something) and put the torch to them...to burn the prickers off. You never really get them all, but I strain the juice about 3 times over folded flour sacks. Then, I soften them by blanching them in very little distilled water. This year I used my big apple press, but it is cast iron and I was afraid it was going to start oxidizing, so I hurried, and I don't think I got as much juice as I could have. Hence, the need for the steam juicer. As far as the rest of the stuff:
:) I plant them!!! I am very fortunate to live in Southern Mississippi, and most of my formerly barren landscape is full of exotics and not so exotics. Anything I can find to eat...I plant. Anything I can use to make wine...I plant. I just planted Loquats yesterday, that my mother pimped from Louisiana. Alot of times, if you just go online shopping at the heath food places you can find exotic juice concentrates, dried fruits and such. I drink hibiscus tea every day, and I have that in a wine bucket too. Don't know how it will turn out, but it probably won't be the worst thing I have made, that I had to drink!!! :) @ Captain...we started our cactus patch by picking up all the fallen ears around town and throwing them in the dirt. They are very easy to propagate.
 
Haha I could probably grow them as well, but it wouldn't be something the family would want. I'll just have to get them when I can and freeze them
 
MzAnnie....you should find that your hibiscus wine turns out to be an early drinker...if you so choose. I have a few loquats growing also...though they will take off for you!!
 
MzAnnie....you should find that your hibiscus wine turns out to be an early drinker...if you so choose. I have a few loquats growing also...though they will take off for you!!

That sounds promising...I do like my "prison brew" as soon as I bottle it!!! Thanks so much for your help!
 
There is a lot of literature on the hibiscus tea wine. It is being described as the closest to grape wine with similar chemical and physical characteristics. Mine, started in January is ready to be bottled, when the time allows. It is full-bodied semi-dry red wine.
If anyone wants to read more I recommend this article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2009.tb00351.x/pdf
 
janzz said:
There is a lot of literature on the hibiscus tea wine. It is being described as the closest to grape wine with similar chemical and physical characteristics. Mine, started in January is ready to be bottled, when the time allows. It is full-bodied semi-dry red wine.
If anyone wants to read more I recommend this article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2009.tb00351.x/pdf

Cool article! I am feeling hopeful for my hibiscus metheglin :)
 
There is a lot of literature on the hibiscus tea wine. It is being described as the closest to grape wine with similar chemical and physical characteristics. Mine, started in January is ready to be bottled, when the time allows. It is full-bodied semi-dry red wine.
If anyone wants to read more I recommend this article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2009.tb00351.x/pdf

That was a very good article. When thinking up a particular wine, I use "jelly" logic. If it makes good jelly, it should make good wine. I am an amatuer oil painter, and to me, color is one of the most important aspects of life. I am always critiquing the colors of the bottled juice I use, compared to the au natural that I grow. Thank you for the article!!! -Annie
 
its looking awesome can you please give me the full explanation about it?

They are the fruits grown from the flowers of the prickly pear cactus. They don't all ripen at once, but when they turn red, I pick them and put them in the freezer. I do this all summer and at the end I burn the prickers off with a torch, soften them in boiling water and juice them (then strain the CRAP out of them to get the rest of the prickers out). This year I mixed them with white grape juice to make wine. Last year I used mulberry juice. I just use a simple wine recipe that has been in my family for years. No more than 5 cups of sugar per gallon of juice, and I use champagne yeast. Although, after reading ALL these threads from the experts, I actually DID take a gravity reading for the first time, EVER! :)
 
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