"Is it possible to make and bottle a May wine by putting woodruff flowers in the must?" Anonymous
The first requested recipe I posted here was Great-Uncle Lucian's May Wine recipe. Well, Lucian may have made a wine in May, but it wasn't the traditional May Wine of the May Day celebrations in the "Old Country" Lucian evidently didn't know about woodruff.
The following recipe makes a gallon of dry, aromatic wine. The hardest part is gathering the tiny woodruff flowers from among the rotting leaves of a beech forest. On the other hand, if you have some planted in the garden, plant more. The recipe requires two quarts of them.
Pick the flowers at the junction with the stem and wash thoroughly. Bring water to boil and stir in sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Mix all ingredients except yeast in primary and pour in sugar water. Wait 24 hours and add activated yeast. Cover primary and stir twice daily for three days. Strain out flowers and transfer to secondary. Fit airlock. Ferment to dryness and rack. Refit airlock. When wine clears, stabilize, wait 10 days, rack, and bottle. Open following May Day and enjoy. [Adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]
My thanks to whomever sent me the request.
