I've been challenged by a friend to make a Habenero/Pineapple wine.
The desired end result is a cooking wine that's just a little too
potent to drink without dilution, and with some sweetness and
pineapple flavor retained.

I haven't found a recipe specifically for this, but I could wing-it
and merge recipes for pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
though.

1) Will the presence of a significant quantity of capsaicin hinder the
fermentation process?

2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?

3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
the bottle?

4) How many peppers would produce the desired level of heat? (slightly
too hot to drink)

Thanks in advance for your input.

Greg G.

I make a jalepeno/onion wine that is used for seasoning/marinating. The
onion has much more flavor than the peppers even though I use about half &
half of each. So I'll answer what I can.

1) No, the capsaicin has no effect on fermentation.

2) I use fresh (OK, frozen/thawed) peppers & they do just fine. I guess
dried would be OK, but may as well use fresh.

3) Not sure, but here's my thoughts..... The alcohol will preserve the
wine, but I don't know if it's enough to preserve an actual pepper.

4) You're talking about habaneros & I use jalepenos, so no direct
comparison. I use quite a few peppers & am surprised at how little heat the
finished product has.

Robert


> wrote in message
...

I've been challenged by a friend to make a Habenero/Pineapple wine.
The desired end result is a cooking wine that's just a little too
potent to drink without dilution, and with some sweetness and
pineapple flavor retained.

I haven't found a recipe specifically for this, but I could wing-it
and merge recipes for pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
though.

1) Will the presence of a significant quantity of capsaicin hinder the
fermentation process?

2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?

3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
the bottle?

4) How many peppers would produce the desired level of heat? (slightly
too hot to drink)

Thanks in advance for your input.

Greg G.

> wrote:

> I've been challenged by a friend to make a
> Habenero/Pineapple wine. The desired end
> result is a cooking wine that's just a little
> too potent to drink without dilution, and with
> some sweetness and pineapple flavor retained.
>
> I haven't found a recipe specifically for this,
> but I could wing-it and merge recipes for
> pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
> though.
>
> 1) Will the presence of a significant quantity
> of capsaicin hinder the fermentation process?

Not to my knowledge, but my recommendation is to
add it to the secondary.

> 2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?

My choice is dried peppers because I have experience
with them.

> 3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like
> this with a pepper in the bottle?

No, but I wee no reason not to try it.

> 4) How many peppers would produce the desired level
> of heat? (slightly too hot to drink)

I use ground Red Savina Habeneros to season soup,
chili, spaghetti, etc. several times a week and
use the beveled end of a chop stick to measure it.
My goal is to get the flavor and not the heat.

In a cooking wine, you probably want the heat. For
that I would suggest a straight, heavily flavored,
pineapple wine with a fresh Habenero pepper (split
in halves or quarters, seeds and all) in each
bottle, and bottle aged for a few months. You can
always add more peppers.

As an afterthought, you could accomplished the
same thing by making a Pineapple/Habenero
marinade for broiling only - broiling removes
both the alcohol and the pepper heat.

Dick

On Feb 20, 9:55*am, wrote:
> I've been challenged by a friend to make a Habenero/Pineapple wine.
> The desired end result is a cooking wine that's just a little too
> potent to drink without dilution, and with some sweetness and
> pineapple flavor retained.
>
> I haven't found a recipe specifically for this, but I could wing-it
> and merge recipes for pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
> though.
>
> 1) Will the presence of a significant quantity of capsaicin hinder the
> fermentation process?
>
> 2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?
>
> 3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
> the bottle?
>
> 4) How many peppers would produce the desired level of heat? (slightly
> too hot to drink)
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> Greg G.

Jack Keller has a jalapeno wine recipe on his site, you might want to
look at it. The version with seeds is plenty hot.

There is a winery here in BC that makes a dessert white (grape) wine
with a hot pepper in the bottle, it's quite dramatic look. Not sure if
they use hot peppers during fermentation as well. No issues with
preserving the pepper inside - there is no air so nothing bad can
happen to it.

I'd use fresh peppers.

Pp

I did something a little different for my last batch. I did a cold soak in
a refrigerator in a 5 gallon bucket for about a week before I started
fermentation. That REALLY boosted the flavor extraction.

Robert


"pp" > wrote in message
...
On Feb 20, 9:55 am, wrote:
> I've been challenged by a friend to make a Habenero/Pineapple wine.
> The desired end result is a cooking wine that's just a little too
> potent to drink without dilution, and with some sweetness and
> pineapple flavor retained.
>
> I haven't found a recipe specifically for this, but I could wing-it
> and merge recipes for pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
> though.
>
> 1) Will the presence of a significant quantity of capsaicin hinder the
> fermentation process?
>
> 2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?
>
> 3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
> the bottle?
>
> 4) How many peppers would produce the desired level of heat? (slightly
> too hot to drink)
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> Greg G.

Jack Keller has a jalapeno wine recipe on his site, you might want to
look at it. The version with seeds is plenty hot.

There is a winery here in BC that makes a dessert white (grape) wine
with a hot pepper in the bottle, it's quite dramatic look. Not sure if
they use hot peppers during fermentation as well. No issues with
preserving the pepper inside - there is no air so nothing bad can
happen to it.

I'd use fresh peppers.

Pp

On Feb 20, 7:53 pm, "Robert Lewis" > wrote:
> I did something a little different for my last batch. I did a cold soak in
> a refrigerator in a 5 gallon bucket for about a week before I started
> fermentation. That REALLY boosted the flavor extraction.
>
> Robert
>
> "pp" > wrote in message
>
> ...
> On Feb 20, 9:55 am, wrote:
>
>
>
> > I've been challenged by a friend to make a Habenero/Pineapple wine.
> > The desired end result is a cooking wine that's just a little too
> > potent to drink without dilution, and with some sweetness and
> > pineapple flavor retained.
>
> > I haven't found a recipe specifically for this, but I could wing-it
> > and merge recipes for pineapple and jalapeño. I have several questions
> > though.
>
> > 1) Will the presence of a significant quantity of capsaicin hinder the
> > fermentation process?
>
> > 2) Would fresh or dried peppers be best for this?
>
> > 3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
> > the bottle?
>
> > 4) How many peppers would produce the desired level of heat? (slightly
> > too hot to drink)
>
> > Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> > Greg G.
>
> Jack Keller has a jalapeno wine recipe on his site, you might want to
> look at it. The version with seeds is plenty hot.
>
> There is a winery here in BC that makes a dessert white (grape) wine
> with a hot pepper in the bottle, it's quite dramatic look. Not sure if
> they use hot peppers during fermentation as well. No issues with
> preserving the pepper inside - there is no air so nothing bad can
> happen to it.
>
> I'd use fresh peppers.
>
> Pp

Does it have to be fermented together? Could you make a pineapple
wine and a habanero wine and blend them together over a pepper in each
bottle?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to slit the pepper before putting it
in each bottle and agitate/top up on filling to remove air from the
pepper itself?

Interesting project, do keep us updated Good luck!

Jim

On Feb 20, 12:55 pm, wrote:
> 3) Has anyone tried bottling a cooking wine like this with a pepper in
> the bottle?

This past fall I put Serrano peppers (sliced) under several liquids
(in different jars) as a test. It's been 5 months so far and they all
are in good shape. I put them under some home made malt vinegar, wine,
sherry, gin, and some beer I made (about 5%). The peppers lost a
little color but show no other degradation. They are not mushy (yet?).
Some I pretreated by giving them a strong brine soak for 24 hours, and
some I did not. The brine doesn't seem to have made any difference.

If you put peppers in the bottle, I would make a couple of
suggestions:
1) Don't do all the bottles. That way if it doesn't work, you still
have some left
2) Use only pristine peppers that will easily fit inside the bottle
for that. Cut a little off the end of the stem so you have a clean cut
that fluid can flow through.
3) Slit the pepper as others have mentioned to allow them to fill with
fluid. I would slit it on the bottom and top. You might want to
consider injecting them full of wine before putting them in the
bottle.
4) You might try blanching the peppers in a few of the bottles to see
if that improves color retention of the pepper.

I plan on making a Serrano pepper wine based on the Jack Keller recipe
for jalapeños once I get a fermenter freed up. I'm curious to know how
your wine turns out. Sounds like a tasty combination - both of those
things have tons of flavor (heat aside).

--Jeff

Suggest you make Pineapple Wine Batch and Habanero Wine Batch and blend the two meet your taste objectives. I use 1 lb Fresh Habanero peppers with 1 lb rasins for body. This wine is too hot for most to drink but you should be able to drink a cooking wine. Pineapple per Jack Keller recipe using 2 Pineapples per gallon.

Item 1 Not that I can tell.
Item 2. Fresh would be best as dried Habanero is hazrdous to make and use,
Item 3 Suggest you fork the pepper to allow wine in.
Item 4 What is your tolerance for heat? I have made a gallon wine with 16 Jalapenos and 1 Habanero using Rasins for body.