Raisin wine
Technical whatevers mean I’m a day late with everything. Yesterday’s post was supposed to be a family recipe post and I promised Mod35sbabe that I would give her a 1940s recipe for her novel. There is an obvious recipe where these two promises coincide and that obvious recipe is raisin wine.
During World War II many imports to Australia were impeded. Happened all over the world. The Australian Jewish Community was particularly hard-hit, however, because it was *tiny*. Think of its size now - a bit more than 100,000 people - and then calculate how much smaller it was before the massive post-War influx. Jewish food changed after the War - no more Christmas pudding, no more roast potatoes that had been dipped in unkosher stuff.
During the War, things were different too. Even in the least kosher community in the world you need wine for Passover. And unleavened bread, but I don’t know what people did about that. I do know what the Melbourne Jewish community did about the wine, because my family was vaguely involved. I also know their source of dill pickles, because my maternal grandmother always maintained that Old Mr Pose used our family recipe. Since our family recipe for those pickles has been lost, it’s almost impossible to prove. We eat Pose’s pickles and enjoy them, every Passover, and recall the days when my grandfather and great-grandfather made their own and they tasted salty and garlicky and full of goodness. I will retell this to you next Passover in all likelihood.
The wine was a different matter. My grandmother had separated from her husband; they divorced after the war - Polack is my father’s maiden name. A friend of hers made the wartime wine for the Jewish community and she gave my grandmother the recipe.
We lost it, as families do, but my aunt found it again when I was doing culinary research and asked about family recipes. It was a secret recipe, but that was sixty years ago and all parties to the secret are dead.
Raisin wine
10 lbs* raisins chopped finely and put into stone jar with 11 bottles of water. Let it stand in a warm place for a week then strain off the raisins and put juice back in jar with 1/2 nutmeg 2 pieces of cinnamon. Mix through well and let it stand till a big skin forms. 5 tbs sugar 1 bottle of water and 1 botle of wine dissolved over fire. Pour into jar and mix well. brown sugar for colouring. 1 lb* white sugar and a little water. Boil over slow fire till dark brown. Add slowly 1 cup of water.
*could be tbs, but lbs is more probable
Note: I get the impression that both women knew what they were doing with this recipe and that only the key and forgettable bits were included. Think of it as features and notes, rather than the whole recipe. If anyone has a knowledge of winemaking (Yes, Farley, I am dropping hints in your direction - how did you guess? ) and could fill in the blanks, then it might be possible to actually make this recipe and recreate this little bit of Jewish history. I don’t feel safe making it according to these notes, myself - but I’ve never made wine so I don’t know what to look for and how to spot potential problems.
November 19th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Gillian, er, I just write about and do little things that make me think I’m having some effect on the final product. But. I know people who know these things, so I’ll see what I can find.
November 19th, 2006 at 12:43 am
That would be awesome :). Thank you.
November 25th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
No luck with the winemaker. Well, he said it didn’t sound too good. But I will ask the others (assistants) when they have more time. Maybe they can think of a way to make it better.
November 26th, 2006 at 6:11 am
Interesting. It means my grandmother either didn’t write the whole thing down or wasn’t given the full recipe. I do hope one of the others can help!
October 1st, 2007 at 6:27 am
[...] Christmas meal planning is already underway in many households, as the big meal often means months of planning and coordination with friends and relatives. Shoppers in Ireland will have the opportunity to include a limited edition stuffing from Mr. Crumb in their feast this year, as the company is issuing a limited edition stuffing for the holidays. The limited edition stuffing will be over fifty percent fruits and vegetables, including cranberries and juniper berries, as well as holiday spices such as cinnamon. It sounds like a lovely product for holiday dinner, perhaps one that could be served with turkey and homemade raisin wine? [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 am
My father was the original “Pickle Man” from North Carlton. many people claim that the receipt was from their family. In fact it evolved from the early 1930’s where my grand father had a stall in the Vic Market. the original method changed little until I sold the business and I believe the new owner made changes. I made some for charity earlier this year and people commented that it was great that it now tasted like the original. My children now are in holders of the secrets.
Harry Pose
July 9th, 2009 at 1:52 am
I can believe half of Jewish Melbourne claiming the recipe - they’re great pickles. I so miss that original recipe - none of the pickles I can get in Canberra taste quite real to me.
We’re distant relatives, I believe, or related by marriage. I can never remember.
I’m really, really pleased you’ve handed to recipe to the next generation. It means they’re not lost. And I wish I was part of the charity thing and could have eaten some!
My father adored your pickles and bought a giant container of them every Passover and I’d sneak one whenever I could get away with it.