Fresh Fruit/Frozen Fruit

[Dave_E]

Hi Everyone,

Looking at making some fruit wines (specifically mango). Where I live mango is in the grocery stores only and personally I don’t think it looks and feels good enough to buy 9 - 10 pounds of it for store prices. However… I can buy frozen organic mango chunks at Costco. I know there are folks out there who make fruit wines from the fruit juices, I’m going to try not to go there. Looking for input from folks who have tried both fresh fruits compared to frozen.

Thanks - Dave

 

[Agent]

Take this with a hefty grain of salt as I only make 1-2 batches of wine a year, but I always freeze my fresh fruits anyway to aid in extraction. The only possible downside to store frozen fruit would be the unknown ripeness of what's already packaged.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Just as Agent says, frozen fruits could be of lesser quality. I found that out with mango chunks. I have had mango fruit, ripe it tastes pleasantly sweet, frozen it was bitter.

Unless you can source frozen from a known orchard I'd skip the packaged stuff at a grocery store unless you absolutely know.

Perhaps canned puree is a better option?

I use cherry and raspberry in my beer but I source it from a local orchard.

 

[Yooper]

I always freeze my fruit- but I've never bought it packaged already frozen from the store. I get better extraction, so always freeze blackberries, strawberries, peaches, grapes, etc, along with using pectic enzyme. I've even used canned cranberry sauce, the kind in a huge plastic coffee can type of container from a restaurant supply store, and make cranberry wine. You could try a small 1 gallon batch to see how it works before spending too much on a larger batch.

 

[Dave_E]

Hi All,

As a military dependent growing up and then in the Navy, I’ve lived all over the country and overseas. Everywhere I ever lived had something unique to offer, sometimes it was the weather, the scenery, the climate for growing things like fruit. My home now is in Washington state which has many spectacular wonders and beauty. We grow berries up here! That and apples, peaches and pears. We do not however, grow anything tropical. Dugh. I can buy mangos at the local grocery store. Quality… meh. At $1.50 - $1.65 apiece, and need 4 pounds for a small batch, yikes! So, I will try the Costco frozen chunks and let everyone know how it turns out. I absolutely agree with all of you… Nothing like fresh fruit! I will be making cider and other fruit wines from my own garden.

Dave

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Hi All,

As a military dependent growing up and then in the Navy, I’ve lived all over the country and overseas. Everywhere I ever lived had something unique to offer, sometimes it was the weather, the scenery, the climate for growing things like fruit. My home now is in Washington state which has many spectacular wonders and beauty. We grow berries up here! That and apples, peaches and pears. We do not however, grow anything tropical. Dugh. I can buy mangos at the local grocery store. Quality… meh. At $1.50 - $1.65 apiece, and need 4 pounds for a small batch, yikes! So, I will try the Costco frozen chunks and let everyone know how it turns out. I absolutely agree with all of you… Nothing like fresh fruit! I will be making cider and other fruit wines from my own garden.

Dave

It's tough when you want to use a fruit not grown locally. Your best bet like you say is the frozen mango. Try it to see how it tastes, it could very well be stellar. Even if it's not there are ways to enhance it and still make great wine.

Please do post your results as many folks here are up against the same concerns.

 

[Raptor99]

Hi All,

As a military dependent growing up and then in the Navy, I’ve lived all over the country and overseas. Everywhere I ever lived had something unique to offer, sometimes it was the weather, the scenery, the climate for growing things like fruit. My home now is in Washington state which has many spectacular wonders and beauty. We grow berries up here! That and apples, peaches and pears. We do not however, grow anything tropical. Dugh. I can buy mangos at the local grocery store. Quality… meh. At $1.50 - $1.65 apiece, and need 4 pounds for a small batch, yikes! So, I will try the Costco frozen chunks and let everyone know how it turns out. I absolutely agree with all of you… Nothing like fresh fruit! I will be making cider and other fruit wines from my own garden.

Dave

I live just south of you, so the climate is similar. Berries grow great here! I have a batch of domestic blackberry wine in bulk aging from last year, ready to bottle now. I also make wine from peaches, pears, and blueberries. Fresh, local, fruit, picked at the peak of ripeness and flavor, it always the best.

I love mangoes, but they don't grow here. When I was in SE Asia, I tasted fresh, ripe mango, and it is amazing. I agree with you about the price and quality of grocery store mangoes here. But I have thought about making a mango wine or mead. I would suggest buying one bag of frozen mango from Costco, let some thaw and taste it. If you are pleased with the flavor, go for it and make some wine! Taste everything first!

 

[Yooper]

I don't do many tropical fruit wines- just banana wine when bananas were 19 cents a pound for overripe ones, and the canned cranberry sauce.

We have chokecherries, pin cherries, black cherries, wild plums, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, black currents, elderberries, wild concord type grapes and of course garden produce (tomatoes, carrots, etc) and flowers like lilacs and dandelions. . I grow crabapples and apples, too. So we have lots of wine fruit and flowers and now I rarely buy any fruit for winemaking.