fatherrob
New Member
Good afternoon,
New member here with a question. I am wondering if anyone has had any experience making Mustum.
I am a pastor of a congregation that wants to make its own Communion Wine, and my preference is to make Mustum, which is permitted by our Church's rules but will allow us to take the Sacrament into hospitals, prisons, and other public locations (for example, an outdoor Eucharist at the park) without facing any kind of problems. (A few years back, when we were getting started at my last Church plant assignment, the park refused to rent the community center to us or even allow us on to the grounds to worship because we used real wine instead of grape juice.)
Essentially, it is my understanding that Mustum is fresh squeezed, unpastuerized grape juice in which fermentation is halted at a very early point by freezing it, then bottling it airtight. We could buy the stuff, but I prefer to have parishoners make our bread and wine themselves. Welch's cannot be used because pastuerization is considered an 'alteration' of the grape juice, removing the natural alcohols present in it. I have seen several recipies on how to make fruit juice from grapes, but it calls for boiling the stuff several times and I am not sure at what point the alcohol would evaporate and constitute what church law calls "invalid matter" (in the end, Mustum has to have some alcohol in it).
Any suggestions or guidance that could be provided would be helpful.
Thanks,
Rob+
New member here with a question. I am wondering if anyone has had any experience making Mustum.
I am a pastor of a congregation that wants to make its own Communion Wine, and my preference is to make Mustum, which is permitted by our Church's rules but will allow us to take the Sacrament into hospitals, prisons, and other public locations (for example, an outdoor Eucharist at the park) without facing any kind of problems. (A few years back, when we were getting started at my last Church plant assignment, the park refused to rent the community center to us or even allow us on to the grounds to worship because we used real wine instead of grape juice.)
Essentially, it is my understanding that Mustum is fresh squeezed, unpastuerized grape juice in which fermentation is halted at a very early point by freezing it, then bottling it airtight. We could buy the stuff, but I prefer to have parishoners make our bread and wine themselves. Welch's cannot be used because pastuerization is considered an 'alteration' of the grape juice, removing the natural alcohols present in it. I have seen several recipies on how to make fruit juice from grapes, but it calls for boiling the stuff several times and I am not sure at what point the alcohol would evaporate and constitute what church law calls "invalid matter" (in the end, Mustum has to have some alcohol in it).
Any suggestions or guidance that could be provided would be helpful.
Thanks,
Rob+