- How to make tomato wine.

One of the fun things about the instructions in the pioneer and settler handbooks of the 1800's is they knew a lot of ways to make a drink.  Alcohol that is.  Texas Tea.

With water quality a questionable thing in those days; wine, beer and whiskey were sometimes necessary.

These books have instructions for turning pretty much every grain and fruit on the farm into something that will make you tipsy.

Currant wine, ginger wine, berry wine, sarsparilla mead...

One alcoholic drink that caught me by surprise was tomato wine, from the 1896 Home Mechanic Book.

People that still make tomato wine say it's nothing like what you'd think.  It's not red and it's not ketchupy.

To make tomato wine:

"Take ripe, fresh tomatoes, mash very fine, strain through a fine sieve, sweeten with good sugar to suit the taste, set it away in an earthen or glass vessel, nearly full, cover tight, the with the exception of a small hole for the refuse to work off through during its fermentation.  When it is done fermenting, it will become pure and clear."

This recipe is relying on local airborne yeast, but it's possible to add your own to ensure good fermentation.  Talk to a local brew shop so you get the right yeast.

The pay off is a wine that tastes and looks just like white table wine.  You can make it more or less dry by adjusting the amount of sugar you use.

The big chapter of colonial how-to and DIY these instructions come from can be downloaded for free at the  Pioneer Handbooks website.

Even if you never plan to make your own tomato wine, you can still hit the Facebook Like button below and save this how-to from disappearing into history

It's easy enough to do and a good way to keep this knowledge alive.

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