It's gorse, of course

It is everywhere! There are fields full, bushes laden with the flowers and when the wind dies down and the sun shines there is a rich almost coconut smell in the air. Having been eyeing up the gorse bushes that are lining the fields and pathways it was high time I went out to pick some and try making the wine that has been tempting me for so long. It is a country wine and one that is well reviewed by many and i have seen recipes all over the place in old books I have found on the subject. It does not even put me off that it will be nine months to a year before I can finally try some seeing as I can't seem to find bottles of it for sale anywhere. Admittedly finding Cairn O'Mohr has only inflamed my country wine making ambitions.

Firstly here is the recipe I followed: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/14/how-to-make-gorse-wine

I then set about finding the gorse because although it is everywhere the foraging laws are different up here in Scotland so it is stealing unless you have the landowner's permission. After finding my stand (aka lethal scratchy bushes) of gorse I waited for a dry sunny morning to pick it; a labour of love in itself up here this time of year. I decided to use a plastic tub to collect the flowers in, one with a white lid as it attracts the bug life to the lid which had happened quite nicely by the time I had returned home so I did not have much at all in the way of 'added extras' to the mix. As a picking tip I would suggest finding the gorse with clusters of flowers rather than single blooms ranging along the branch that way you can use thumb and forefinger to 'pinch and twist' the flowers off without being pricked by the rather nasty thorns. I cannot lie, my fingers were sore for a couple of days.

After following the recipe I was left with this in the big fermenting bucket I use...

The flowers are a lot darker after being heated and the smell wafts through the whole house so open some windows! Fermentation was obvious later on that same day and the bubbling in the corner was very loud so I think that worked quite nicely. I racked it off into a demijohn after 5 days to be sure that primary fermentation had stopped and now it is sitting in a dark corner of my kitchen where it still until fermentation has stopped and it can be bottled.

I have found it easier to label the contents of each demijohn on a brown parcel label which can be used several times and will not either drop off or become one with the glass that it takes half an hour to scrub off as in the case of some sticky labels.

Hugs from Haggis Land,

Jx