Sunday 20 January 2013

Parsnips

Hacking parsnips out of the ground again! As with most of England we have snow and frost just now, -8 deg C last week, so the ground is a wee bit frozen!

Wilkinsons have expanded their range of wine making and home brew kit, was in their shop in Northallerton last week and got quite a nice surprise as I was expecting to have to trawl the internet to get what I needed for wine making, but it was all in one place to get!
So I spent about £30 and got a large plastic tub with lid, another demijohn (I already have one), tubing, yeast, a hygrometer, yeast food, campden tablets, a funnel and something else which I think is for clearing the wine.

Why all this? Well shortly I want to try parsnip wine making, we deliberately planted an extra row of parsnips this year so as we can try this.

Here goes with various snippets from the internet

WARNING! I HAVE NOT TRIED ANY OF THE LINKS AND RECIPES LISTED BELOW SO I CANNOT VOUCH FOR THEIR ACCURACY! HOWEVER, THESE ARE BITS OF RESEARCH THAT I WILL BE USING TO HELP ME NEXT MONTH.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/nov/09/how-to-make-parsnip-wine
http://jonathanspain.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/home-winemaking-tips-for-beginners/
amylase
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/juicy-gossip/hazels-parsnip-wine_11876.html
10-20 mins boiling
Having had great success with elderberries last year, I'm just making some parsnip now. I've sort-of averaged a load of recipes I've found, and come up with:
4lb parsnips srubbed and sliced, boiled about 25 mins, strained onto 3lb sugar (1lb is dark brown coz I happened to have that in the cupboard, should add an interesting colour), about 1/2lb chopped raisins and 2Tbsp citric acid. When that's simmered for about 40 minutes I'll put it in a fermenting bin with a crushed Campden tablet and leave it to cool to 21C. Then pectolase, yeast nutrient, and yeast; stir daily for 10 days; rack into a demijohn. Then the long wait...

http://www.wine-making-guides.com/parsnip_wine.html
http://www.lowcostliving.co.uk/home-brewing/recipe-parsnip-wine.php
http://www.lowcostliving.co.uk/home-brewing/recipe-beetroot-recipe.php
http://www.yobrew.co.uk/parsnip.php
http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?3960-Parsnip-wine-another-one