Raisin Wine (葡萄酒)
The wine is very fragrant for cooking like steam chicken or fry vegetables or fish soup. It has also a very nice color like brandy. This is so much easier to make compare to the rice wine. This recipe is also given to me by a confinement lady (maid that help in the family to cook, look after mommy and baby after arrival of baby for month). Made this once myself.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Black raisin
- 800 grams crystal rock sugar (水晶糖)
- 2 sweet yeast cakes (甜酒饼)
- 2 strong yeast cakes (烈酒饼)
- 4 litres water
Method
- For the yeast cakes, in Singapore, some provision shops sell them. Ask around the shops above Waterloo Street market, you will find them.
- Boil a kettle of boiling water. Put the black raisin in a pot and pour the newly boiled water over it. Stir and let it sit for few minutes, strained away the water. This step basically removed the oils on the raisin and any impurities.
- Add in the 4 litres of water and the crystal sugar in a pot and bring to boil until the sugar dissolved.
- Add in the raisin and continue to boil for 30 minutes in low flame.
- Allow it to cool down completely, very important.
- Put the content into a big air tight container, and put in the 4 yeast cakes, and cover. (make sure the container is totally dry and clean. Contact with any tap water may cause the content to turn mouldy).
- 100 days later, strain out the wine and keep in air tight bottles for cooking. The wine when strained out is very cloudy with suspension of the yeast and remnants of raisin. Keep them in tall bottles for a week or more until the suspension settled at the bottom leaving very clear wine on top, slowly transfer to another bottle without shaking. May need to repeat this process 2 or more times to get very clear wine.
btw, first check the size of your container that you are going to use to ferment. If it can only take 2 litres for example, then half the ingredients.
Hi there, does this work? im eager to try, really. What is the use of the wine then? to cook what for example? this is a very interesting post. The raisin wine, how does it taste and is it suitable for drinking rather than cooking? thanks!
Tasted it, but dont really like it as it is not sweet (surprisingly, after putting so much sugar and raisin, but fermenting coverted all to alcohol). But my comment may not be a good judge as I also dont like beer. 🙂 Using this in cooking is very nice, like fry kailan, or steam chicken or prawn.
Hi, I am interested to try this but where can I get such big glass container in Singapore?
/ plastic container
Not sure if IKEA still have it, they have glass containers meant for storing biscuit. You can also try your luck at old fashion shops that sells pots and pans, they may sell the big glass biscuit jars that you see in old coffee shops. Try the shops at Joo Chiat, there is one called “5B”, and another one few doors away also selling lots of stuffs.
Thanks for your reply. I manage to get one 5 ltr jar from Chinatown cos I am only trying half recipe. The medical hall that I bought the yeast cake only have one type one size (about slightly bigger than 50 cents coin). Is this correct?
Yes, its about the size of 50 cents coin.
1 week ago I make raisin wine. I found tht on top got a layer like green color. Is it spoil or normal? Thx.
you can send photos how it looks like to me at stanley@werynice.com, I try to figure that out.
Hi
When you say raisin, what kind of raisin is it? Dried ones? or are you referring to fresh grapes?
Dried raisin.
Do I hv to use a air tight container ?
I tried doing it and I hv green n black mould on top . I threw it away
Yes, it should be air tight. However, it seems that you get contamination that cause it to turn mouldy.