Pineapple Beer. Wormwood gin. Beetroot wine. Prickly pear Brandy. Agave Tequila. What do all of these have in common? Ah! Now I have your attention!! Well they can all be fermented in your own garden. And thanks to our country's rather unusual l🤔ckdown restrictions, pineapple beer has been the most popular beverage of the last two years. All these foraged and fruitie ferments are on my next to-do list. Maybe in that available gap between 2:30 am and 3:15 am. Anybody else try an unusual homebrew?
When ordering more heirloom seeds recently I came across Agave seeds. Imagine my surprise to see that these are in fact the wild looking indigenous plants dotting our landscapes. You learn something new every day!!
After doing some research I discovered that these Agave Tequila are not actually indigenous but arrived nearly 2 centuries ago via ships. Being used as exceptionally tall ballasts by Spanish and Portuguese sailors, the Agave, more recently, has been used as feedstock for animals. Because of similar arid conditions they thrive here and most assume (myself included) that they are indigenous.
A local woman makes Tequila from the Agave. However patent rights do not allow her to label it as such. But the discovery really got my mind working in overdrive.
Years ago I tasted a delicious artisan Lettuce wine. Yup! You read correctly. Lettuce! FarmerBuckaroo and I made mead years ago because we are blessed with so much honey. It was astounding. In 2020 the ban on alcohol forced me to start making sourdough bread - because yeast and pineapples were more scarce than ducks teeth thanks to desperate homebrewers.
Following all the rain there's a glut of fruit this year - nobody is complaining. I have worked around the clock dehydrating, jamming and freezing. But I would love to make my own alcohol to make those wonderful herbal tinctures. And of course, what better way to wind down after a scorching day on the homestead than with our own chilled fruit wine? Apricot and Lemon Verbena Wine ... hmmmmm. There's also a batch of kale about to go to seed. I wonder what Kale Wine with rose geranium would taste like?
Oh my goodness! You have all these amazing plants on your property? I had no idea! Eventough I am not alcohol drinker, I would enjoy them in other ways and I always love to see your beautiful phots 💖😍💖
PS: The cat is priceless! lol
His name was Garfield (but the skinny version). He was such a special cat. Sadly a cobra killed him and now our bed is empty without him.
As far as the plants go. Aren't they amazing? Not a day passes that I am not astounded by the beauty and the reality of our home sweet homestead
You are truly blessed Tracy and I am very happy for you. Yet sad about Garfield. The poor thing! Oh my gosh! It breaks my heart 🙈
Lettuce wine had me really wondering. I started making wines 3 years back.. started with red grapes, then pineapple, plum, beetroot, gooseberry, green grapes.. have to try jackfruit next 😁👍
Oh tell me more! Is it rewarding? Everyone I've spoken to say that there's no comparison to commercial wine once you start making. I've never tasted jackfruit, we don't get it in SA, that I know of. But I'm keen to try a variety of fruit and veg.
My mom made wine from nutmeg once and start fruit another time 😁. Star fruit(bilimbi) was awesome
Sounds wonderful
Delicious lettuce wine? Really??? Unbelievable!!!
I would make kale chips all the time, but I don't think I would ever have imagined of making kale wine :)
Apricot and Lemon Verbena Wine, you got me there! Sounds great!
There is some crazy inspirational info in this post, great ;)
I loved the agave part, we really do learn something new every day!
Oh kale chips are delicious. And I'm not sure how kale would taste in wine. But the theory is that in the fermentation process that sugar will transform anything into a unique drink
It is amazing! I am super curious about it!
Wow your landscape is so rich and different from mine! I've never seen anything like it, I am sure the goats are enjoying themselves!
I would be on constantly on the look out for scorpions and black mambas!!
I realized I didn't even reacted on the lettuce wine! What else haha?
And how much lettuce do you need?
Ah. That is not the correct question! The correct question is how much lettuce wine do you want to drink? I would imagine, like most wines it will take a LOT. But I'll keep you posted. Just received all the tannins and yeasts so I'll make my first batch - with fruit - next week.
Sorry I haven't answered your other comments - bit hectic on the homestead at the moment. My laptop wants to crash as I have about 50 Hive tabs open! Need to answer everyone........