Put a Cork in It

Do you remember a couple of months back, you mixed some stuff together put it in a big glass jar and set it in a dark corner of the basement? Do you know where the jar is? It time to clean out all those empty wine bottles we have been saving and put up our batch of the summertime elixir.

Vin de pamplemousse, d'Orange, et de Citron Meyer, ( all pronounced vin de Hoo-Hoo) have become very popular around the here, and today we will detail the bottling of our second batch, Vin de Citron Meyer et Moro.

A quick note before we get started: my lawyers and life coaches have asked me to remind all my gentle readers that I am not a professional, but I do recommend you try things at home. The information for these recipes is stuff I have picked up either from a book, a magazine or I have simply made it up. My results always vary so you can expect that yours will too. Whatever you do, make sure you use good kitchen practices, make sure you make it yours, make sure you make it good.

Back to the program. I found the jar of marinating fruit and checked for mold, I have never found any in any of the batches, but if you do the batch is ruined. Even though it seems to be just sitting of the top waiting to be skimmed, the mold has flavored the entire liquid and it doesn't taste good.

Once you are ready to get started, put some corks on to simmer. You don't really want to boil them hard, but simmer in a covered pan and they should be soft enough to work in 15 minutes.


Pour the contents through a strainer, or colander, into a large pot. Next transfer part of the batch to another receptacle, like a 3 litre measure, straining it with a fine mesh strainer(Sorry no picture).

Now measure out 750 ML to another measure, straining it through the fine mesh strainer lined with several layers of cheese cloth. Take a clean wine bottle and sterilize it by filing with boiling water. Empty the water and funnel in some vin de goodness. Repeat until you have about six bottles.


Put a cork in it.


Yer gonna need something to get the cork where it's supposed to be. I got this thing, called Handy Corker, which fits the bill, for less than 10 bucks.


One of our faithful readers phoned in last week saying: Gee MAC, I see all the talk about vin de hoo-hoo, but I don't see a recipe. Well here you go. The original recipe I adapted from an article titled "Nibbles and Sips," by Mona Talbot, Published in the New York Times Style Magazine, Fall Living, 2004.



Vin de Pamplemousse



3 ruby grapefruit

3 white Grapefruit

4 lemons

5 bottles (750ml) of white wine

1 bottle (750ml) vodka

2 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean split


Thinly slice fruit and combine with all other ingredients in a 2.5 gallon glass jar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Store in cool dark place for forty days. Bottle as directed above. Serve over ice.

I got my glass jar at the Container Store. I put a bit of plastic wrap over the opening before screwing on the top.


For corks and stuff (and a container for that matter) try to find the local beer/wine makers shop. In Columbus, I think my mom got set up at The Winemakers Shop. I loaded up at Bev-Art in Beverly.

You don't have to spend a whole lot of money to do this. Once we started doing it we got hooked. We have used all different kinds of wines and all different kinds of citrus, my favorite is probably the Meyer lemon. Find out what you like by experimenting. Vin de hoo-hoo is easy to make and it is fun to drink.



Cheers.