Requested Recipe:

Paula was looking to perhaps combine apples, pears and quinces to create a white wine, or to combine quince, apple and elderberry to create a rosé. While I think these combinations have merit, I have never tried them and therefore couldn't even guess at proportions.

Some years back, however, I made a white wine with quince and parsnips. It was quite delicious and so I made a second batch, but substituted carrots for half the parsnips. This, too, made a very nice white wine. The recipes are identical except for the base ingredients. These wines must age a year to mature.

• 5 lbs parsnips
• 3 lbs quinces
• 1 lb golden raisins, chopped or minced
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• 1-3/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/8 tsp tannin
• 7˝ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 pkt Champagne wine yeast

Wash and trim parsnips and grate or cut into thin (1/8 inch) slices. Peel quinces, quarter and remove stem and seed cores. Grate or slice thin like parsnips. Combine in pot with water and bring to boil. Hold boil for 45 minutes, adding water as level drops through evaporation. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Strain through nylon straining bag, squeezing lightly to extract juice. Pour into primary and add sugar, stirring well to dissolve. Stir in juice of citrus, tannin, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Tie zest of citrus fruit and chopped or minced raisins in nylon straining bag and add to primary. Cover primary and set aside 12 hours. Add activated yeast and recover primary. Stir daily until s.g. drops to 1.010 (12-14 days). Squeeze nylon bag and discard zest and raisin pulp. Let settle overnight and rack into secondary. Top up and fit airlock. Rack, top up and refit airlock every 60 days until fermentation completes and wine clears. Stabilize, wait 10-14 days and rack into bottles. Age one year. [Author's own recipe]

• 2˝ lbs parsnips
• 2˝ lbs carrots
• 3 lbs quinces
• 1 lb golden raisins, chopped or minced
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• 1-3/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/8 tsp tannin
• 7˝ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 pkt Champagne wine yeast

Wash and trim parsnips and carrots and grate or cut into thin (1/8 inch) slices. Peel quinces, quarter and remove stem and seed cores. Grate or slice thin like parsnips and carrots. Combine in pot with water and bring to boil. Hold boil for 45 minutes, adding water as level drops through evaporation. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Strain through nylon straining bag, squeezing lightly to extract juice. Pour into primary and add sugar, stirring well to dissolve. Stir in juice of citrus, tannin, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Tie zest of citrus fruit and chopped or minced raisins in nylon straining bag and add to primary. Cover primary and set aside 12 hours. Add activated yeast and recover primary. Stir daily until s.g. drops to 1.010 (12-14 days). Squeeze nylon bag and discard zest and raisin pulp. Let settle overnight and rack into secondary. Top up and fit airlock. Rack, top up and refit airlock every 60 days until fermentation completes and wine clears. Stabilize, wait 10-14 days and rack into bottles. Age one year. [Author's own recipe]