• 2 64-oz bottles of Welch's 100% White Grape-Cherry Juice
• 14 oz finely granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/2 tsp acid blend
• 1/8 tsp powdered grape tannin
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Lalvin RC 212 wine yeast

Pour one bottle of the juice into a 4-liter jug and then add the sugar, pectic enzyme, acid blend, tannin, and yeast nutrient. Stir the juice very well (6-8 minutes) until all sugar is dissolved, then add the second half-gallon of juice. The jug will not be full. Add the activated yeast and cover primary with a multi-layered paper napkin or towel secured by a rubber band. Set aside three days, then remove covering and seal with a bung-airlock. When all fermentation ceases and wine clears, rack into a 1-gallon jug, add one finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet, and top up with cherry or white wine. Refit airlock and set aside 2 months. Rack, stabilize and sweeten to taste or bottle dry. If sweetened, allow another 2-3 weeks under airlock before bottling. Wine may be enjoyed after only two months in bottle. [Author's own recipe]

If you wish to compare this wine to a White Grape-Cherry Wine blend, the recipes for each is referenced below. I have no idea of the proportions of each in the Welch's juice used above, so you will have to experiment. However, I have blended these two before in a 60-40 White Wine/Cherry Wine ratio that was quite good but still quite different from the wine referenced above. I think the wine above is the better wine.

I received an email from a first time winemaker reporting a beginning specific gravity (s.g.) of 1.082 and a cessation of bubbles in the airlock at 0.996. She was afraid she had no alcohol in her wine because there is no potential alcohol (PA) on the PA scale at that s.g. She wanted to know if I could explain to her what was happening.

I told this person it was important to understand the processes involved and what the various things like bubbles in the airlock and specific gravity mean. I pointed her to my web site and suggested she read up on the processes a bit more. She then wrote back and it became obvious she did not understand the concept of specific gravity. She has Terry Garvey's excellent book, The Joy of Home Winemaking, and therein lies the problem.

I love Terry's book, but she really doesn't explain specific gravity worth a hoot. Her key hydrometer reading is the PA scale. Add sugar until the PA is 11 and then ferment until it is 0. Simple, yes. Explanatory, no. Once I understood what the writer's frame of reference was, I felt compelled to fill in where Terry neglected. So, here is what I replied to her.

The specific gravity (s.g.) of water is 1.000. When you add sugar, it rises. At 1.088, it theoretically has enough sugar to make 12% alcohol by volume (abv). But there are other things dissolved in must that raise the s.g. and do not ferment -- do not convert to alcohol -- such as yeast nutrients, acids, trace minerals from the water and fruit, tannin, pigments, etc. These make up less than 2% of the s.g. reading, so we largely ignore them and use the s.g. reading as a "potential alcohol" (PA) reading. As the s.g. drops from 1.088, every decrease represents abv added to the wine. When it gets back to 1.000, it is nearly done but not quite.

he s.g. of alcohol is far less than that of water (way down to 0.789). Thus, if ALL the material dissolved in the must were sugar and were converted to alcohol, the finished s.g. of a 12% abv wine would be 0.975 because 12% of it would be at 0.789 asnd the remaining 88% at 1.000. But, since about 2% of the must's s.g. is nonfermentable dissolved compounds, the actual "finished" mark is around (just less than) 0.994. If the original s.g. figure is higher than 1,088, the final s.g for a bone dry (no remaining sugar) wine would be even lower because more of it would be ethanol (alcohol) at the lower s.g. (I have had wines finish fermentation at 0-.986, and that is really dry). Conversely, if the original s.g. figure is lower than 1.088 (as was yours), the finished s.g. would be higher than 0.994 because there would be less sugar in the original must and a lower PA. Less sugar means less abv and a higher finished s.g.

So, when you say you started with an s.g of 1.082 and finished with an s.g. of 0.996, my conclusion is that your wine is finished. There may be a fraction of a gram of sugar left in it, but I would consider it done.

• The Joy of Home Winemaking, my own review of the book
• Using Your Hydrometer, my other explanation
• The Joy of Home Winemaking, Terry Garey's web site

I receive many emails in which the writer alludes to sterilizing the must or wondering if adding sulfites (potassium metabisulfite or Campden tablets) to the must kills the yeast. I usually do not comment on these mistakes unless they are the central point of the email, but let me address these subjects now in hopes of clarifying a few misconceptions.

We don't really sterilize wine. We sanitize it. The difference is that in the first you kill all germs (bacteria, viruses and molds), while in the second you only kill the more pedestrian ones (not the ones that can live in steam vents at Yellowstone) with sulfites and the acidity and alcohol in the wine kill the rest later.

Sulfites don't kill yeast, but they do kill most bacteria and molds. All they do to yeasts is shock the wild varieties into inactivity for a period of hours, and during that time the cultured yeasts, which are largely sulfite tolerant, get a big growth head-start and dominate the must. The cultured ones crowd out the wild ones and don't allow them to gain more than a toe-hold. So, after sulfiting you do not want to wait too long before inoculating with cultured yeast or you lose the advantage the sulfites give them.

In older recipes a waiting period of 24 hours was often specified between sulfiting and inoculating with yeast, but as science clarified the role of sulfites that period was generally reduced to 10-12 hours. Personally, I almost never wait more than 6-8 hours between sulfiting and pitching the yeast, as the cultured yeasts seem to do just fine at that time -- especially if you start them outside the must in a starter solution and introduce a little must or juice to the solution at half-hour intervals so they get used to the new environment before being pitched into it wholesale.

When you use boiling water in the recipe, you do not need to sulfite right away because the boiling water does a fair job of killing bacteria and wild yeasts. But, you do need to wait until the water temperature drops below 100 degrees F. before pitching cultured wine yeast. I wait until the must is below 95 degrees F. (and prefer waiting until it returns to room temperature) before adding yeast. Most wine yeasts die (or at least stop metabolizing sugar or reproducing) at 104 degrees, so it is best to get well below that temperature before introducing them. Also, pectic enzymes do not work well in higher temperatures, so allowing the must to drop to room temperature is a good idea before adding the enzyme to your must.

You can take water bottles, empty out an inch or so of water, freeze them, and then drop two or more of these into the must about an hour after adding boiling water to get the temperature down quicker. Just mix up an amount of cold, 1% sulfite water first and submerge the frozen water bottles in it for two minutes to sanitize the outside before dropping them into the must. To make up a 1% sulfite solution, dissolve 10 grams of potassium metabisulfite in one liter of water. It can be saved to sanitize wine bottles, corks, or winemaking equipment.

• The Miracle of Yeast, for more details on these little critters
• Glossary of Winemaking Terms, scroll down to "Potassium Metabisulfite"

I was recently asked, "When is the best time to pick...plums and can I pick them slightly early and let them finish ripening after they are picked?" This is a good question, so I thought I'd share my answer.

What is true for plums is generally true for other fruit as well, so use this discussion as a guide generally. Pears, paw-paws and persimmons are three fruit that generally do not follow this model, so deal with them as literature specific to them dictates.

The plums should not be picked early because they will not really "ripen" after being picked. Oh, they will continue to turn color and will eventually grow softer, but the amount of sugar in them will never increase after being picked. Sugar is created in the roots and brought up to the fruit in the sap, so once they are picked no additional sugar is delivered to the fruit. Since sugar affects flavor, leave them on the tree until perfectly ripe. When exactly they are ripe will be the tough part to determine. You will have to feel them for plumpness and a softening of their developmental hardness, and then taste several to assure yourself that they are good-tasting.

Commercial growers know the historic dates when ripeness occurs and the natural sugar -- measured as degrees of Brix -- the fruit reaches when ripe. As that date approached, they will go out in the orchard and test the juice of a few plums for Brix using a refractometer. Since the plums need to be processed and shipped -- sometimes to jobbers, then distribution centers, and finally to stores -- they are picked before they are ripe or they will arrive at your market half-rotten. The refractometer allows them to judge the right time to pick. That is not practical for most folks with one or two plum trees, so use your taste buds as a guide.

Tree-ripened plums should be several degrees of Brix sweeter than the same plums picked by commercial growers for grocery chains. The reason is contained in the above. They have to pick them several days before they are ripe so they will darken and soften in the few days it takes to process (sort and box), transport and display them for sale. The tree-ripened plums are picked at the peak of ripeness and therefore have more sugar and flavor.

I am constantly amazed at how good a wine is made from wild plums. In the Americas, there are numerous wild plums. Here are a few, but by no means all, species native to the United States.

Prunus alleghaniensis (Alleghany or Allegheny Plum) is the common wild plum of the northeastern United States. Their fruit are dark purple with yellow flesh.

Prunus americana (American Plum, but also called American Red Plum, American Yellow Plum, Native Plum, Wild Plum, River Plum, August Plum, Goose Plum, Canadian Plum) is a wide-ranging species found almost everywhere in the United States except from the Texas panhandle up through the great plains. One-inch red, yellow or reddish-orange fruit with yellow flesh make excellent wine. This is the predominate wild plum of the eastern and central United States.

Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw Plum, but also known as Hog Plum) is native to Arkansas and surrounding states. Their fruit are small (1/2 in.) and red and turn yellowish when ripe although some retain a reddish blush. The flesh is yellow.

Prunus ilicifolia (Evergreen Cherry, Holly-Leaf Cherry, Islay) is native to California. It has spiny leathery leaves, showy white flowers and a very thin flesh that yields very little juice. The flowers make better wine than the fruit.

Prunus maritima (Beach Plum, Shore Plum) is native to the seacoast of the northeast, with small (1/2 to 1 in.) bluish-purple fruit, but red or yellow fruit are also known. Makes excellent wine.

Prunus mexicana (Mexican Plum, but also Fall Plum and Bigree Plum) is another native plum of Texas. It has a pinkish-purplish to reddish coloring, yellow flesh, and is very flavorful. Fruit average 1 inch diameter.

Prunus munsoniana (Munson Plum, Potawatamie Plum, Wild Goose Plum) ranges from Texas to Illinois to Kentucky, is yellow when ripe with yellow flesh, and is quite flavorful.

Prunus rivularis (Creek Plum and also Hog Plum) is native to Texas up to Colorado and Kansas. The small (3/8 in.) fruit ripen to a pinkish-purple with yellow flesh and are very flavorful.

Prunus subcordata (Pacific Plum, but also known as Klamath Plum and Sierra Plum) is native to northern California and up through the Pacific Northwest. It is large (up to 1-1/2 in.) for a wild plum, bright red at maturity, very tastey, and has spawned two cultivars. Some with yellow fruit are known, probably due to natural hybridization.

Prunus gracilis (Sour Plum, also Oklahoma Plum and Sand Plum) ranges from Texas to Kansas to Tennessee. It grows more as a shrub than a tree with red fruit when ripe. It is not considered a very good eating plum, but makes very decent wine.

Prunus Texana (Texas Plum, but also Sand Plum, Peach Bush)) is native to one small area of south-central Texas (over and around the Edwards Aquifer) and produces small (1/2 to 3/4 in.) yellowish-orange to orangish-red fruit with yellow flesh. Slightly tart, they make great wine.

• Texas Wild Plum Wine, my recipe, adaptable to other wild species
• Three Plum Wine Recipes, see first recipe, makes a weaker wine than mine

It is difficult to believe it has been nearly four weeks since I made an entry in the WineBlog. Time has literally flown by, with two competitions and a newspaper interview since I last wrote.

The county fair is a great place to enter wines in competition. You not only get great feedback, but get to meet some great people in the community. I entered some wines in the Medina County Fair at Hondo, Texas. I won three ribbons for my wines, but my real joy was witnessing my good friends Luke and Lynette Clark take five firsts. Luke took Best of Show (Grape) and Lynette earned an Honorable Mention (Grape). Peter Jacoby won Best of Show (Non-Grape) with a wild persimmon wine, the first time I have seen this lowly fruit take the grand prize.

Luke Clark, of Leesville, Louisiana, entered his first ever mustang wines (a sweet and a dry) and each beat all competitors (including my own). Luke made these wines from grapes I picked last June in Pleasanton, Texas and brought to him in Louisiana. There are mustang grapes in his area, but they are difficult to find and not in large quantity. Lynette's big win was with Clair Muscardine, a grape Luke isolated from the wild and propagated.

My own wines did better at the Atascosa County Fair in Poteet, Texas -- no doubt because Luke and Lynette were not there. My sweet blueberry was declared Grand Champion. It was made from blueberries grown by Luke Clark in Louisiana.

I encourage all home winemakers to enter their wines in their county fair. It is a great tradition and the fairs are there for you. If your fair does not have a home winemaking competition, start writing your Fair Board about starting one. Also, if you send me a copy of the rules for your fair, I'll do my best to publish them on my web site.

The Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana), also known as the Mexican Persimmon, Black Persimmon or Chapote, ranges from Oklahoma down into northeastern Mexico. It is often a multi-trunked evergreen bush growing to 10-12 feet in height, but can rise to a 20-40-foot tree after many years. It is often pruned to a single trunk as an ornamental. It has green fruit that are astringent, but they turn dark brown to black when ripe -- usually after a frost or freeze -- and are then quite sweet. The fruit are small, usually not over an inch in diameter, and are an important winter food for wildlife.

More widely distributed is Diospyros virginiana, or American Persimmon. It ranges from Florida to New England and west to Texas and Kansas. It is a decidious tree growing to 60 feet in height. It usually flowers in June, and the fruit ripen from October to November. The fruit are harsh and astringent until they ripen, usually after a frost or freeze. The fruit can also be ripened off-tree and eaten raw, cooked or dried. It is used in breads, cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, jellies, jams, and wine. The seeds can be roasted to make a coffee substitute or pressed to render a cooking oil. A tea rich in vitamin C can be made from the dried leaves, and molasses can be made from he fruit pulp. It's fruit ripen at a yellowish-orange and are about twice the size of the Texas Persimmon.

A cousin of the Texas Persimmon is the Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna), also known as Zapote Negro, Ebano, or Chocolate-Pudding Fruit. It is not a sapote (Pouteria sapota), but a persimmon. Immature fruit are bright-green and shiny, 2 to 5 inches in diameter, and look like a green tomato. When ripe, the smooth, thin skin becomes olive-green and then rather muddy-green. The pulp within is glossy brown to very dark-brown, almost black, somewhat jelly-like, soft, sweet and mild in flavor. It may have 1 to 10 flat, smooth, brown seeds, but the fruits are often seedless. It ranges on both coasts of Mexico and in the forested lowlands of Central America. It has been widely exported and can be found throughout the semi-tropical Pacific, Caribbean and southern Florida. In Mexico, the fruits are common in the markets from August to January. Most black sapotes in Florida ripen in December, January or February. Certain trees, especially the large-fruited types, regularly ripen from June to August. The trees are evergreen and grow to 80 feet in height, although cultivated trees are kept at about 25 feet.

Since the Texas and American Persimmons will be ripening soon, let's look at making them into wine.

• 3 lbs of Texas Persimmons or 3-1/2 lbs American Persimmons
• 2 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp citric acid or 3/4 tsp acid blend
• pinch or two powdered grape tannin, as needed
• 1 Campden tablet, crushed and dissolved
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• water to one gallon (about 7 pints)
• Red Star Champagne wine yeast

Crush the ripe fruit, skins and all, in nylon straining bag in primary. Dissolve sugar, yeast nutrient, acid, and crushed Campden tablet in water and add to primary. Cover primary and set aside for 8 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover, and set aside another 8 hours. Add activated yeast and recover the primary. When vigorous fermentation begins to subside (5-7 days), squeeze pulp and discard. Wait 24 hours and transfer liquid to secondary. Attach airlock and set aside in dark place. When all signs of fermentation have passed (about two months), rack into clean secondary. Wait additional two months and check for lees. If lees, rack. If none, taste wine for tannin. Add pinch or two if needed. Wine made from Texas Persimmons will be oily black in color with greenish edges. Wine made from Americal persimmons will be straw to light blush. Once bottled, wine should be stored in deark place for uo to one year before tasting.

Although I have found numerous references to making liquors, liqueurs and wine from Black Sapote, I have never found a recipe for doing so. If you should have one, please consider sharing it with me so I can share it with others.

• Winemaking Competitions, listed when I know about them
• Persimmon wine, from oriental (Japanese) persimmons

Luke Clark wrote to me a few days ago to remind me it is sugar cane harvest time in Louisiana. He has a hankering to make sugar cane wine and woindered if I had a recipe. I thought I did, but after searching only found a reference to making wine from sugar cane -- no recipe. A Google search revealed ample evidence that wine is made throughout the tropic and temperate zones from sugar cane. It goes by a variety of names. After several search strategies, I finally found one recipe.

The following recipe is from "Recipes from Guyana and the Caribbean," a web site. I will first give the recipe as it is published, and then will enhance it a bit to yield a more balanced and (hopefully) better tasting wine.

• 3 lbs of white sugar
• 3 joints of sugar cane (about 3 lbs)
• 4-6 pints of water
• 1 tsp of yeast

Peel and cut the cane into very small pieces. Put all the ingredients into a clean jar and set aside for 9 weeks. Strain and bottle. Repeat this after 2 weeks.

This, to me, will not be a balanced wine. It contains no acidity or tannin to speak of, no antioxidant, no sulfite. Three pounds of sugar will produce too high an alcohol level or too sweet a wine. I think it can be improved upon as follows

• 1 3/4 lbs of white sugar
• 3 joints of sugar cane (about 3 lbs)
• 6 pints of water
• 1 3/4 tsp acid blend
• 1/4 tsp grape tannin
• 1 Campden tablet, crushed and dissolved
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Red Star Premier Curvee yeast

Peel and cut the cane into very small pieces. Place in nylon straining bag and mash in primary as best you can. Add all ingredients except yeast and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover and wait 12 hours, then add activated yeast starter. Recover and ferment 9 days, stirring twice daily. Remove bag, drain well, discard pulp, and transfer liquid to one-gallon secondary. Attach airlock and set aside 3 days. Top up and refit airlock. When fermentation ceases, wait two weeks and rack. Wait until wine clears, then rack again, add another crushed and dissolved Campden tablet. Dissolve 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate into 1/2 cup of wine, stir into secondary and refit airlock. Wait about 3 days, then taste wine and sweeten to taste. Refit airlock, wait 2-3 weeks, and bottle. Store in dark place for 9-12 months, then drink.

• Recipes from Guyana and the Caribbean, scroll down to "Sugar Cane Wine"
• Guyana Online, same recipe

A little over a month ago I entered a Mustang Rosé in the Medina County (Texas) Fair's Home Wine Competition. They did not have a "Rosé" category, so I entered it in the "Red Table Wine" category, the same category a Mustang Rosé had won Best of Show a few years back. My rosé received 0 points for color. Despite the label that said "Mustang Rosé," both judges faulted it for being too light. One judge wrote, "Wines of this type can only be deep red." This was nonsensical bias and completely ignored the style in which the wine had purposely been made (and so labeled).

Last Sunday I was Head Judge at the San Antonio Regional Wine Guild's Autumn Competition. In my pre-judging briefing, I told the judges they had to leave their biases behind and respect the declared style of the winemaker. It was one heck of a competition, one I thoroughly enjoyed being part of. My White Mustang took a first place and my Mustang Rosé took a second. Both received maximum points for color appropriateness although neither was "deep red." That is how it should be when the color matches the labeled style.

To those who do not belong to a winemaking club, guild, circle, or society, all I can say is you are missing out on a great experience. Not only are you missing out of participating in the conduct of regional competitions, but you are missing out of the monthly interactions with other winemakers. Most importantly, you are missing out on tasting the variety of wines that appear at every gathering for everyone's enjoyment. And when you say, "Hey, this Sassafras Wine is pretty good. How was it made?" the winemaker will always beam and tell you whatever you need to know.

Many people write to me and ask what dandelion wine, fig wine, honeysuckle mead, mayhaw wine, or any number of others actually taste like. There is no way to answer these questions except to pour a glass of each and offer them a taste. You can do this every month if you belong to an organization that celebrates the making of wines in the home. If you don't, you can go a lifetime without ever being offered half of them. What a waste.

If there isn't a local winemaking group organized in your area, it might be time to organize one. I don't know what the best way to do this is, but the tried and true way is to talk to the owner of your local homebrew/winemaking shop and ask if he or she will allow you to post a flier announcing an organizing meeting. The shop owner may even offer their premises for the first meeting, or may be willing to place a flier in the bag of every customer who buys winemaking supplies. Some shop owners send out their own fliers or a newsletter to customers and might include your flier in their next mailing. Finally, some shops sponsor clubs because promoting the hobby is good for their business.

The first meeting can be at the shop, a neutral site (a restaurant) or at someone's home. Wherever it is, be sure you obtain permission well in advance to set up a "tasting table" of homemade wines for the enjoyment of attendees. And that should be the price of admission -- a bottle of homemade (or commercial) wine for the tasting table. The first meeting should be a discussion of the proposal to organize such a group and collect contact information from those interested in attending a second meeting. Set a standard time and date -- the San Antonio Regional Wine Guild (SARWG) meets the third Sunday of each month at 1:00 p.m. except on Father's Day (change to the 2nd or 4th Sunday) and November when the Executive Board (officers) meets. A holiday party in December is held earlier in the month for obvious reasons.

The second meeting should be the actual organizing meeting, when by-laws are drafted, acting officers selected until the first election, and ideas solicited for the programs for the next several meetings. SARWG rotates its meetings among members' homes, with an occasional meeting held at a local winery. Programs can be a discussion of closures, yeast strains, pressing techniques, grapevine propagation, grapevine pruning, or anything you agree on.

If you wish to explore this idea further, feel free to visit the SARWG web site for ideas.

• Feeding Your Yeast, scroll down through the whole page

I have often been asked about making pulque wine. I love this question, not because of what it asks (although it is a strange question), but because of who asks it. Most often it is asked by readers south of the border in Mexico, and it pleases me that they visit my web site and read this blog. The strange thing about the question is that pulque is not a wine but more like a cider or flat beer, so they are asking to go beyond pulque and make wine.

For those unfamiliar with this drink, pulque is a fermented drink made from the sap of agaves, a hardy desert plant that supports an entire industry in Mexico. Pulque itself is a soured brew of 6-7% alcohol. Pulque and agave pulp are distilled to make mescal (also spelled Mezcal) and tequilla. The former can be slightly golden in tint, but the latter is almost always a clear, fiery drink. Pulque wine (actually, maguey or agave wine) will be a white wine, without the sour taste of pulque.

The maguey agave (Agave salminae) is the plant of choice for making pulque and mescal. The blue agave is favored for making tequilla, although other species (including magueys) can be used. Although often called the Century Plant, it is not. The true Century Plant is the Agave americana and can be used for making pulque. But the maguey yields the greatest amount of sap per plant, as much as 150 gallons before the plant dies. Yes, you must kill the plant to make these drinks.

Most magueys destined to be made into pulque, mescal and tequilla are grown in plantations. When the plants are about eight to ten years old, they begin to send up a quiote (stem or cane) as high as thirty feet, that bears flowers carrying between three to five thousand fertile seeds. But it is not allowed to do this. Instead, the heart of the plant (called a piñas) is cut out of it and a cavity excavated. This is covered with a loosely woven cloth, like cheese cloth, and the cavity fills with sap -- the agua miel (literally "honey water" -- liquid that accumulates in the cavity of the plant). It is regularly pumped dry and fills again and again for six to eight months until eventually the plant dies. The piñas are slow roasted in an earthen pit for several days under a covering of palm-fiber mats, maguey fibers, and soil. Then, after resting in the shade for a week, the piñas are ground to a mash by horse-driven stone mills. The mash is transferred to large wooden vats and the only other ingredient, water (about 5%), is added. This then ferments for a month and is twice distilled to make mescal.

One will need some sap from a maguey or other agave plant. I know of no commercial source for the sap, so one must sacrifice a maguey (or other agave) to make it. Do NOT attempt to harvest the sap of the aloe -- although an agave, it is unsuitable for this purpose.

Tamarindo in Arabic is tamr hindi, which simply means "date of India." It looks nothing like a date if we think of dates as being the fruit of certain palm trees. But I am told that "date" is derived from Greek (daktylos) and means "finger." If so, the tamarindo's fruit looks more like a daktylos than the fruit of those palm trees.

Tamarindo pods (Tamarindus indica )

The fruit of the tamarindo tree (Tamarindus indica ) is actually in a bean-like pod containing several black beans encased in a thick, brown, paste-like pulp. It is this pulp that is of interest. Most of us have tasted tamarindo whether we know it or not. It is a major taste component of the original Worcestershire sauce and is an ingredient of many steak sauces, barbeque sauces, meat marinades, curries, and chutneys. The pulp is made into a soft drink known as refresco de tamarindo in Latin America and enjoyed here in Texas. Indeed, it was after I drank my first refresco de tamarindo several years ago that I resolved to try using it as a wine base. I have only now gotten around to attempting it.

The tamarindo tree can get 90 feet tall but is usually less than 50 feet. It has a short, stocky trunk, drooping branches and a domed umbrella shaped crown about as wide as the tree's height. It can produce as much as 500 pounds of pods a year. The pulp that surrounds the seeds is both sweet and extremely sour (acidic). Originally, the tree was from Africa, but now is grown throughout the tropics. It is hardy up into Zones 10-11.

According to one web site, being highly acidic, tamarindo is a refrigerant (cooling in the heat) and febrifuge (for fighting fevers). The Ananga Ranga suggests consuming tamarindo for enhancing a woman’s sexual enjoyment. This claim had no influence on my decision to attempt a tamarindo wine.

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