Did you know you can make a fruit wine out of just about any fruit or vegetable with a fairly high sugar content – even pumpkin wine?
One of my foraging mentors, the late Mike Jacisin, was willing to experiment with cooking and fermenting just about anything. One year he was blessed with an abundance of onions, so he made a batch of onion wine. Alas, said onion wine went down in infamy as the worst brew he ever concocted, and has become a running joke in our extended circle of family and friends.
This year weve been blessed with such an abundance of sweet onions that Im seriously considering a small batch of the infamous brew, since I missed out on tasting the original, but thus far my husband has vetoed the idea.
Since he wont let me ferment onions, Id like to share how to make pumpkin wine. Like Mike, Im willing to bulk up my food and beverage storage with a wide variety of foodstuffs, and its fun to break out a bottle of an unusual brew for friends.
I am not a big wine drinker, but I love the rich, yeasty smell in my kitchen as the wine ferments. Wine is pretty forgiving, too. Ive made batches that are better or worse, but nothing completely skunky like some of my beer brewing friends have encountered.
“Pumpkin wine?” I hear you say. Yes… it’s a thing! Whether you have a glut of Pumpkin that needs using up or you want to impress your friends and family at this years Halloween party, then this is the recipe for you.
Directions – First Ferment
Wash, trim, peel and chop (or grind) the pumpkin. I peeled and shredded my pumpkin and mixed it with the raisins before adding the spices.
Place the pumpkin in a primary fermenter, such as a food grade 3 gallon bucket or large crock. (I used my three gallon crock.) Add raisins, spices and boiling water. Let sit overnight.
Add sugar, yeast nutrient, and acid blend. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Specific gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.095.
Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and stir. Stir daily for three to five days, until specific gravity is 1.040. (I bought a hydrometer but not a graduated cylinder, so I skipped this step. If you would like to see how to measure specific gravity using a hydrometer, check here.)
The mix will get nice and bubbly, and should have a pleasant, mildly yeasty smell and pumpkin flavor.
At the end of this first ferment, the pumpkin will have turned to mush and the grapes will be plump.
Strain the wine dregs (the leftover solids from the wine) and squeeze out as much juice as you can. We compost this or feed it to the chickens.
Siphon pumpkin wine into a one gallon secondary fermenter, add enough water to fill the fermenter, and attach airlock. You can see at this point the wine is very cloudy – not terribly appealing. It clears as it ages. I used a glass gallon jug with a plug type airlock.
For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.
For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermenter. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle the wine.
Heres the wine is sitting, covered, in a corner of the kitchen. The particulates settled very nicely – no more cloudy wine.
The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started, so prepare it in fall to enjoy the following year.
We made the dry version in October 2011. It packed a punch, but I prefer my wine a little sweeter, so weve switched to the sweet version.
You can download a pdf of the wine labels I used here. => Printable Pumpkin Wine Labels
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5 from 4 reviews
Sweet or dry, this unique wine is sure to be a conversation starter.
- Author: Laurie Neverman
- Yield: 1 gallon 1x
- 8 cups pumpkin
- 1 pound raisins (I used golden)
- 1 – 4 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 inch fresh ginger root
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 gallon water, boiling
- 5 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
- 3 teaspoon acid blend
- 1 package wine yeast
- Wash, trim, peel and chop (or grind) the pumpkin. Place in primary fermenter (2-3 gallon container). Add raisins, spices and boiling water. Let sit overnight.
- Add all other ingredients except yeast.
- Stir well to dissolve sugar. Specific gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.095. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and stir. Stir daily for three to five days, until specific gravity is 1.040.
- The mix will get nice and bubbly, and should have a pleasant, mildly yeasty smell.
- At the end of this first ferment, the pumpkin will have turned to mush and the grapes will be plump. Strain the must and squeeze out as much juice as you can.
- Siphon into a one gallon secondary fermenter, make up to volume with water (if needed) and attach airlock.
- For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.
- For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermenter. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle.
- Let age for at least a year for best flavor.
Pumpkins are low acid, so you need to add extra acid to help promote proper fermentation.
How to Make Pumpkin Wine – Step by Step
Use pumpkins or other winter squash to make this simple homemade wine. Pie pumpkins and winter squash have sweeter pumpkin flesh than jack o lantern pumpkins. If you dont have whole spices on hand, you can substitute a teaspoon of pumpkin spice seasoning.
This recipe makes one gallon of wine. The wine bubbles a fair amount during the first ferment, so I initially ferment in a 2 or 3 gallon container.
- 8 cups pumpkin
- 1 pound raisins (I used golden, but any are fine.)
- 1 – 4 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 inch fresh ginger root
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 gallon water, boiling
- 5 cups sugar (granulated sugar or brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
- 3 teaspoon acid blend (Pumpkins are low acid, so acid helps promote proper fermentation. See below.)
- 1 package wine yeast
Pumpkin Wine Recipe | EASY Instructions From Start To Finish
FAQ
What does pumpkin wine taste like?
Can you make wine from squash?
Does pumpkin ferment?
What wines pair with pumpkin?
What is Pumpkin Wine?
You’ll only be able to sip this festive brew a few months out of the year, but this seasonal treat is well worth the wait. Pumpkin wine is in fact made from actual pumpkins — often ones that are grown especially with the intent of making them into a fermented drink. The pumpkins are cleaned, peeled and usually chopped into pieces.
Are squash and pumpkin the same?
Pumpkin and squash both belong to the same plant family, Cucurbitaceae. The main difference between pumpkin and squash is that the pumpkin stem is hard and jagged, while the squash stem is light and hollow. In other words, a pumpkin is a type of squash but not all squash are pumpkins.
Is Pumpkin Wine a real thing?
Yes! While they’re not common, and you can usually only find it a few months out of the year, pumpkin wine is a real thing! Some of the options you’ll find in this guide are more of a pumpkin spice wine, and others feature more subtle flavors. Can you ferment pumpkin into alcohol? Yes! Pumpkins can be fermented to make pumpkin wines!
What is a good white wine based on Pumpkin?
This off-dry hybrid white wine is made with pumpkin and autumn spices, and features a lot less added sugars than most of the wines on this list. If you’re looking for subtle blends of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg with a smooth finish, Duplin Winery’s Pum’kin is a surprisingly great pair for so many different dishes.