This may sound crazy, but has anyone tried a wine from something other than fruit, veggies, leafs, roots etc.? Something like chocolate bars, marshmallows, jellybeans, Koolaid, Tang, cookies...
If not, what's the strangest type of wine you've made. Stu
Jack reported on a port he made from chocolate covered cherries once. Never did get the recipe.
I made a very nice port from raisins and caraway seeds.
The problem with some of the things you listed would probably be preservatives.
Ray
Pleny of people ferment grape KoolAid with bread yeast. Its called the "Purple Magic" and its a method for getting real drunk, real cheap. I'm sure someone's tried it with Tang, we've all just missed their Usenet postings for some reason.
These are all artifically flavored beverages. Now, I'm not against artificial flavorings, they're in all the foods I eat and enjoy. But they are present in vanishing small traces, and they are very complex chemicals. They don't combine with other things in the finished wine to produce new and exciting flavors during the aging process. In fact, the yeast may attack them during fermentation, leaving you with nothing.
Well I have to disagree on this a bit although I think it is the right idea.
Artificial flavors are for the most part the same chemicals that creat the natural flavor. Like in banana itis isoamyl acetate. The reason it is artificial is that it can be made in a factory instead of being extracted from the fruit. They will act the same way as the "real" thing.
The problem is that things like kool aid only have a couple flavor components where as the fruit has thousands in vastly complex mixtures. What may begin as a minor component in the juice can become a much larger part of the wine when finished....whereas dominant flavors that are volatile can get striped away during fermentation. That is why banana wine does not taste "just like bananas" or grape wine does not taste like grape juice + alcohol.
There are other flavor constituents that are not the same thing as the natural flavor, but they are not out of place in wine. Vanillin is artifical vanilla flavoring. Artifical vanilla flavor comes from the same place that wine makers get it. Wood.
Flavor chemistry is one of the highest paying science jobs out there. If you want your kids making money hand over fist and they are interested in science...that is an area with huge potential for them (and it is easier to get into than pharmaceutical research)
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