Parsnip Wine Recipe How to Make Parsnip Wine

This parsnip wine recipe produces about a gallon of  light medium-sweet, Sauternes style table wine. This is best made towards the end of the winter months after the parsnips have been frosted and their starches have turned to sugars.

Parsnips are fairly easy to grow and suitable for container growing. There’s help on growing parsnips on the Allotment Garden web site here: How to Grow Parsnips

Parsnip Wine Recipe

Ingredients for Parsnip Wine Recipe

• 4 lb (1.8kg) parsnips
• 2 oranges
• 2½ (1.1kg) granulated sugar
• ½ lb (227g) sultanas
• Campden tablets as per instructions
• 1 level tsp pectic enzyme (pectolase)
• 1 3mg vitamin B1 tablet
• Sauternes or all-purpose yeast starter
• 1 heaped tsp citric acid
• 1 level tsp nutrient salts

Method for Parsnip Wine Recipe

1. Scrub, slice the parsnips and place in a pan containing 6 pts (3.4 litres) of water. Add the thinly peeled skins (zest) of the oranges, being careful to avoid any of the pith.
2. Boil, and simmer for 10 minutes – never more, or the finished wine may have a haze. Strain off the liquid into a bucket containing the sugar, taking note of the amount of liquid. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Wash the sultanas. Liquidise them in some water or chop them, and add them, together with the juice of the oranges, again taking note of the amount.
4. Make it up to 8 pts (4.5 litres) with cold water, add 1 Campden tablet and cover.
5. After 24 hours add the pectic enzyme (Pectolase)  and the remaining ingredients, including the the yeast starter and yeast nutrient.
6. Ferment for 4 days, stirring daily.
7. Strain into a demijohn and fit an airlock.
8. Continue the fermentations in a warm place until the s.g. is down to 1006, then rack and add 1 Campden tablet.
9. Allow the ferment to continue to completion. Should the wine go down to dryness, it may be sweetened a few days before bottling.
10. This wine may be drunk after 6 months.

This parsnip wine recipe is from the book  Home Winemaking the Right Way Copyright Right Way Books and published with the permission of the publisher.