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Can you find any influences from Luxembourg’s wine or beer production in the cuisine?

Introduction: Exploring Luxembourg’s Culinary Heritage

Luxembourg, a small yet culturally rich country in Western Europe, has a diverse culinary heritage that reflects its unique history and geography. The country has been influenced by the cuisines of its neighboring countries, including France, Germany, and Belgium, as well as its own traditional dishes. One aspect of Luxembourg’s gastronomy that is often overlooked is its wine and beer production.

Luxembourg’s Wine Culture: A Brief Overview

Luxembourg has a long history of winemaking, dating back to the Roman era. Today, the country has three wine regions – the Moselle Valley, the Upper Valley of the Our, and the Valley of the Red Lands – which produce a variety of white, red, and sparkling wines. The most popular grape varieties grown in Luxembourg include Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer.

The Impact of Luxembourg’s Wines on its Cuisine

Luxembourg’s wines have had a significant impact on the country’s cuisine, with many dishes incorporating wine as a key ingredient. One popular dish is Judd mat Gaardebounen, which consists of smoked pork collar served with boiled beans cooked in white wine. Another dish is Coq au Riesling, which is a variation of the classic French dish Coq au Vin, made with Riesling wine instead of red wine.

Luxembourg’s white wines are often used to prepare sauces for fish and poultry dishes, while red wines are commonly used in stews and meat dishes. Additionally, Luxembourg’s sparkling wines are enjoyed as an aperitif or paired with desserts.

The Role of Beer in Luxembourg’s Gastronomy

Beer is also an important aspect of Luxembourg’s gastronomy, with the country having a long tradition of brewing. Luxembourg is known for its lagers, which are light and crisp, as well as its dark beers, which have a rich, malty flavor. Some of the most popular beer brands in Luxembourg include Bofferding, Diekirch, and Mousel.

Beer and Food Pairing in Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, beer is often paired with traditional dishes such as Kniddelen, which are small dumplings made from flour, eggs, and milk, served with bacon and cream sauce. Other popular dishes that are paired with beer include Judd mat Gaardebounen and Gromperekichelcher, which are potato pancakes.

Luxembourg’s beer culture has also been influenced by its neighboring countries, with Belgian-style beers being popular among beer enthusiasts in the country. Additionally, Luxembourg has a growing craft beer scene, with several microbreweries producing unique and flavorful beers.

Conclusion: Luxembourg’s Wine and Beer in its Diverse Cuisine

Luxembourg’s wine and beer production have played a significant role in the country’s cuisine, with many dishes incorporating wine or beer as a key ingredient. From Judd mat Gaardebounen to Coq au Riesling, Luxembourg’s cuisine reflects its unique history and geography, as well as its appreciation for good food and drink. Whether you’re a wine or beer lover, Luxembourg’s diverse culinary heritage is sure to delight your taste buds.

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Pumpkin Seed Oil: Application, Effect and Production

Pumpkin seed oil is a particularly aromatic oil. Here you can find out what properties it has, what you can use it for and what you should definitely pay attention to when buying.

Many oils do not have a particularly distinctive taste or are even considered tasteless. It’s completely different with pumpkin seed oil: the oil is valued for its strong taste. It tastes particularly nutty and is suitable for numerous dishes and body care.

Pumpkin seed oil – origin and production

Pumpkin seed oil is made from the seeds of pumpkins, i.e. the pumpkin seeds. To be more precise: from the pumpkin seeds of the oil pumpkin. Only with this variety do the kernels have no woody shell, so they can be squeezed out. The special pumpkin variety came about through a random mutation around 100 years ago in Styria (Austria), where people soon discovered the oil in the seeds.

Austria and neighboring countries such as Hungary, Slovenia and Russia are still the main growing areas for the oil pumpkin. Another important growing area is China.

Only the cores are used for the production. They are washed, chopped, roasted and then pressed. The pulp can be plowed into the field as fertilizer and used as animal feed.

Properties and ingredients of pumpkin seed oil

Pumpkin seed oil is very dark in color. You can also tell the origin and processing of the oil by the color:
Oil from Austria is mostly dark green with a slight red-brownish tinge.
If the oil is more brown to yellowish, it usually comes from China, Russia or Eastern Europe.
The color of the oil can also be an indication of its manufacture and quality. If the oil is heated during processing, it also turns red-brownish to yellow. However, excessive heat damages the oil. The oil should therefore be processed as cold as possible. If the oil is dark green and shimmers slightly red against the light, it is ideal.

Other properties of pumpkin seed oil are its viscous consistency and its pleasant smell, which is not nearly as strong as the taste.

Pumpkin seed oil is characterized by a high proportion of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The main ingredients also include:
Various vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin C),
pantothenic acid,
biotin,
Minerals (e.g. chlorine, iron, fluorine, iodine, potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium, sulfur and zinc).

Use of Pumpkin Seed Oil

You can use pumpkin seed oil in different ways:
for cooking in the kitchen,
as a natural remedy,
for body care.
Due to its many good ingredients, pumpkin seed oil is considered an effective natural remedy. It is said to relieve prostate problems, lower blood pressure and help with joint problems. In addition, it is said to strengthen the immune system. For the precise use of pumpkin seed oil for health problems, you should speak to a doctor or pharmacist.

use in the kitchen

The most common use of pumpkin seed oil is in the kitchen. Because the oil just tastes really good. You can use it in many ways:
to refine pumpkin soup or pumpkin seed soup,
in the salad
in desserts.
You should mainly use pumpkin seed oil cold. If you heat it, the oil will quickly turn bitter. This can also happen to you if the oil is exposed to light for too long. Because pumpkin seed oil is also sensitive to light. Therefore you should store the oil in a cool and dark place. When storing, you should also note that the sensitive oil loses its aroma very quickly. It has a shelf life of around 12 months in an originally sealed bottle. Once you open it, you should use it within three months. It is therefore best to buy pumpkin seed oil in small quantities.

When buying pumpkin seed oil, you should pay attention to the origin of the oil. The oil is a regional specialty from Austria. The Styrian pumpkin seed oil is even a product with a protected geographical indication. You should also pay attention to the common organic labels when choosing the oil. In organic farming, for example, pesticides are prohibited.

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Whey: Production, Effect and Ingredients of The “Cheese Water”

Whey was considered a remedy for a long time, but was then forgotten: Today, the “cheese water” is celebrating a comeback. We’ll tell you what whey is all about.

How is whey made?

Whey is a by-product of quark and cheese production. Lactic acid bacteria or rennet are added to the milk to make it firm. The casein, the protein in milk, coagulates. So the cheese will harden. When the curd is then scooped out, a liquid remains – the whey. Depending on the type of cheese production, it can look different. It is usually milky-greenish in color. The taste can also vary. Acid whey is created when lactic acid bacteria are added to the milk, sweet whey is created by rennet. Rennet contains a digestive enzyme that is taken from the stomachs of young calves.

Pure whey does not keep for long. It spoils within two hours. Pasteurization and drying processes for powder production can prevent this.

Whey can be bought as drinks, dietary supplements, protein bars and even in cosmetic products. As with all milk products, you should make sure that they are of organic quality.

ingredients of whey

Since the fat remains in the cheese during cheese production, whey is low in fat and calories. It consists of about 94 percent water, but it still contains many nutrients and the important amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine. Whey is particularly rich in potassium and calcium. It also contains iron, vitamins B1 and B2, and iodine.

There is also protein in whey, but the content is relatively low. But it is a particularly valuable protein that can be easily utilized by the human body and helps to build muscle. Whey is therefore very popular with strength athletes, especially in powder form.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s sweet or sour whey: the nutrient content remains the same.

How does whey work?

Many studies have already proven that whey has a positive effect on our body.

Effect of whey:
Whey drains and purifies.
The lactic acid in whey is good for the intestinal flora and liver function. This strengthens our immune system.
Thanks to the calcium, the risk of osteoporosis is reduced.
It helps prevent muscle cramps.
If whey is in skin care products, it helps with blemishes and dry and sagging skin.
Whey not only has positive effects on health, it also has a right to exist in terms of the overall utilization of food. If you want to avoid unnecessary animal suffering, use sour whey. So you can be sure that no animal rennet is included.

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Smoked Salt: Production and Use of Smoked Salt

Smoked salt gives dishes a spicy, smoky note and is therefore particularly interesting for vegan and vegetarian dishes. Here you can find out how smoked salt is made and how you can use it.

Smoked Salt: How It’s Made

Smoked salt is made by smoking salt. The smoke condenses on the salt crystals, giving it the brownish color and smoky aroma. The different types of smoked salt differ depending on the type of wood used and the duration of the smoking. For example, while American hickory salt is smoked over hickory wood for only 48 hours, Danish smoked salt spends 160 hours smoking beech wood. Salt is usually smoked cold, i.e. at temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius. To do this, the smoldering wood is in another room and only the cooled smoke is directed to the salt.

By the way: Not every smoked salt was actually smoked – some salts are simply treated with smoke aroma and colored with caramel. A look at the list of ingredients will tell you whether you are holding real smoked salt in your hand.

smoked salt in the kitchen

With its special and penetrating aroma, smoked salt is particularly suitable as a so-called “finishing salt”: You sprinkle the finished dish sparingly with smoked salt to complete the taste. Smoked salt is often used for meat or fish, but is also particularly suitable for vegetarian and vegan dishes that naturally contain less smoke flavorings. Here are some examples of dishes you can add smoked salt to:
The sweet, roasted aromas of oven-baked root vegetables or potato wedges are wonderfully complemented by smoked salt.
Mushrooms are often refined with bacon, smoked salt brings a similar flavor as a vegan alternative.
Barbecue sauce isn’t complete without smoked salt.
You can refine hearty egg dishes such as omelets or scrambled eggs with a pinch of smoked salt.

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Food

Red Pepper: Uses, Production and Peculiarities

Red pepper differs from other types of pepper not only in color. Here you will find all the important information about the spice.

Along with salt, pepper is one of the most important spices in every kitchen. It gives the food a spicy note and rounds off the taste. But pepper is not just pepper: A distinction is made between green, black, white and red varieties. The red pepper plays a special role in the kitchen – because the variety is very rare.

storage and use

Basically, you can use red pepper like any other type of pepper. But note:
You should not grind the red peppercorns in the conventional pepper mill. The grains are very soft – it is better to sprinkle them over the dish. Alternatively, you can gently crush the red pepper in a mortar and pestle before seasoning the food with it.
It is best to sprinkle your dishes at the end of the cooking time to preserve the full flavor of the peppercorns.
Due to its particularly intensive pepper aroma and its spiciness, the red pepper is particularly suitable for seasoning:
spicy sauces
vegetables
salads
Pan-fried meat (such as fillets and steaks; for the sake of the environment, however, the following applies to meat: less is more, and if so, then in organic quality)
Fish (but beware: most types of fish are overfished and therefore not recommended)
Because of its sweet note, red pepper is also suitable for refining desserts or chocolate – especially in combination with fruit.

In addition to its taste benefits, the red pepper can also score points visually. Due to their deep red colour, the peppercorns are very attractive and are ideal as a table decoration or topping for special dishes.

Tip: Red pepper can be stored for up to two years. However, you should store it in a dark and cool place and pack it as airtight as possible.

Red pepper: That’s what makes it so special

Taste: The red pepper is characterized above all by its special taste: During the long ripening period, a lot of sugar can be stored in the pepper fruit. As a result, the peppercorns not only taste hot, but also slightly sweet.

Ingredients: Red pepper also contains numerous vitamins: it is particularly rich in vitamins A, C and B6. It also contains minerals such as magnesium, calcium and iron. This makes red pepper a particularly healthy spice.

Traditionally, pepper was also used as a medicinal plant in India, as it is said to have the following effects. It is said to…:

Relieve upset stomach and sore throat
help against rashes and inflamed wounds
relieve itching
and help with weight loss.
Rarity: The sun gives the peppercorns their deep red colour. For this, however, the red pepper has to mature for a long time. In addition, field workers have to harvest it by hand.

These factors make red pepper unattractive to farmers. They tend to opt for green or black pepper, which can be harvested quickly. That is why the red pepper is very rare – and more expensive than the conventional varieties. You can find it in delicatessen shops, among other places.

Production of red pepper

Red pepper does not grow on a special pepper plant. All the different varieties come from the same plant: the so-called pepper bush is a climbing plant that originally comes from India. From there, pepper cultivation spread across Southeast Asia to Indonesia and Malaysia. Today, the main growing areas for pepper are in Vietnam, India, Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The pepper bush grows mainly on tree trunks and can reach a height of ten meters. The shrub forms panicles with stone fruits twice a year. These are harvested and processed into spices in further steps. The different colors of the peppercorns indicate the different degrees of ripeness of the fruit:

Green pepper is made from unripe peppercorns that farmers harvest particularly early. Most of the time, farmers soak the grains in brine or freeze-dry them. As a result, the peppercorns retain their original color. Green pepper is characterized by its particularly spicy taste with a sour note.
Shortly before maturity, the farmers harvest again. They use these fruits to make black pepper: they dry the grains and skin until they become wrinkled and black. This makes the black pepper much hotter.
White pepper is made from fully ripe fruits. Farmers soak the fruit until the skin peels off. They then bleach the grains in the sun, resulting in the light coloration. White pepper differs in a slightly milder taste.

Red pepper is the latecomer among the varieties. The farmers only harvest the fruits after they are fully ripe. You have to carefully pick the fruit by hand at just the right time. Often the farmers can only win a few red grains. They then dry the grains or soak them in brine.

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Beekeepers – Honey Production in the Self-sufficiency Garden

If you walk around with open eyes, you will increasingly see beehives in private gardens. In recent years, beekeeping has become a hip hobby almost overnight, partly because it has been found that the food supply for honey bees is sometimes far greater in cities than in the country. Because there are often monocultures due to intensive agriculture, which after the harvest are like an empty plate for bees. Politicians are now taking countermeasures with the promotion of flower strips, but the large number of balcony plantings, allotment gardens, city gardens and city-tended flower beds as well as urban gardening projects and tree sponsorships usually still offer a greater variety and a food supply from spring to late summer/autumn.

Beekeeping – A hobby for everyone?

From 0 to 100

Basically, beekeeping is a hobby for everyone. Children are introduced to this form of animal husbandry in beekeeping associations and school projects, and as long as personal fitness plays along, there are no upper age limits.

For those who can no longer or do not want to lift that heavy, a box full of honeycombs can weigh up to 25 kg, there are appropriate solutions: boxes that are only half high and therefore only half as heavy or hive systems light styrofoam to reduce the base weight and of course the help of other beekeeping friends.

Beekeepers as allergy sufferers

Even those who are allergic to bees are not necessarily denied the hobby. There are protective suits and gloves that protect against stings and peoples bred to be gentle who are generally not in a bad mood when handled correctly. If you know that you are allergic to bee venom and that doesn’t deter you, then you should always have an emergency pen with you and inform fellow beekeepers.

Beekeepers without their own garden?

Even without your own garden and thus parking space for your bee colonies should not deter you. If you have a balcony, you can ask your property manager whether you are allowed to keep bees, as there are already systems designed for balconies.

Alternatively, you can ask around in your neighborhood via social media or the classic way with notices in the supermarket whether you can set up your bee colonies in someone’s private garden. There are now many who are open to it and to whom one or the other glass of honey is enough thanks.

Prerequisite for hobby beekeeping

Youtube is good, real discourse is better

In order to keep honey bees and produce honey as a hobby beekeeper, especially for your own use, no training is necessary, but you should be aware that you are dealing with living beings. While in most cases the bees themselves know best what is good for them, there are a few things you should know before getting any bees.

For example, ask your nearest beekeeping association whether they offer courses for newbies. Or ask long-established beekeepers if you can give them a hand and look over their shoulders. It’s important to be able to lend a hand and look inside the beehive, that’s the best way to learn and you have the professional on site to answer your questions.

Member of the beekeeping association and insurance

Similar to liability or household effects, you should also have insurance for your bee colony. If you are a member of the beekeepers’ association and only own a few hives, this is not a big investment and is usually billed together with the association fee.

Report to the Animal Disease Fund

As beekeepers are no longer located miles apart, diseases are more likely to spread more quickly. In order to identify locations in the area, to warn and, if necessary, to withdraw them from circulation, it is therefore absolutely necessary to register your colonies with the disease fund. However, the process is quite easy to complete using a form, which can usually be downloaded from the animal disease fund.

Basic equipment for beekeepers

If you want to start beekeeping, you need some basic equipment. There would be

The hives and frames

These are the dwellings for your bees. You can get these new in specialist shops and in different versions. When buying used, you should be careful, especially as a new beekeeper. The hives can contain remnants of pathogens or mites that are not good for your colony.

The protective clothing

Even if many bee colonies are bred to be gentle, a bee sting, especially on the face, is very unpleasant and a hat with a veil is affordable for protection. Special, thicker and, above all, long gloves are also recommended, as they prevent bees from crawling into your shirt sleeves and then stinging your arm or upper body out of claustrophobia. If you prefer to play it safe, you can wear tops with veils or even full-body suits. The latter are like a sauna suit in hot summers, but you have to think about what exactly you want to do with the beehive beforehand.

The tool

The most important utensils are a smoker and a stick chisel. With a smoker you produce smoke and pretend a forest fire to the bees. They retreat and gorge themselves on Hong to have enough energy in case they escape. Use the stick chisel to lift the frames out of the hive.

That brings you the hobby of beekeeping in a self-sufficient garden

Honey – the sweet, liquid gold

Of course, honey bees produce honey and very few hobby beekeepers keep bees without also having their own, self-produced honey in mind. If you want to be as self-sufficient as possible, honey is of course a sweet source of energy, which can also be used for your health in Oxymels, for example.

A strong colony can bring 20, 40 in good years also 60 kilograms of honey.

Attention: Anyone who wants to sell honey or just give it away as a gift must comply with the hygiene regulations when extracting and filling and labeling the honey jars with all the necessary information is required.

Propolis

There are people who swear by propolis as a panacea, whether as an admixture to honey or as a tincture for wounds.

Beeswax for DIY projects

Anyone who uses their own beeswax to make candles or beeswax wraps knows what’s inside. However, cleaning the wax is a bit time-consuming, which is why many hobby beekeepers do without it. The spun combs can also be reused. This saves the bees the time they need to build their own honeycomb and they can put their energy directly into caring for the brood and procuring food, and thus honey production. The longer the honeycomb is used, the darker it becomes because it is more contaminated. If you don’t want to melt them down yourself, they belong in the residual waste due to possible pest or disease contamination.

Pollinator performance

Of course, it’s not just the honey bees that pollinate our fruit and veg, but having them in your kitchen garden definitely can’t hurt. The work done by the flying helpers is priceless.

Deceleration and feelings of happiness

Keeping bees is usually more of a hobby and relaxation than work. The bees do most of the work without our intervention. We only check from time to time whether everything looks good, the queen is laying eggs and the brood is being cared for, whether we need to expand the brood chamber or honey chamber, whether pests such as the Varroa mite have settled in, harvest the honey and feed it Winter possibly too. The rest of the time we can watch the bees at work, relax with the steady buzzing and nibble the first honey straight from the honeycomb.

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Shellac: Application and Production of The Coating Agent

The natural substance shellac offers many possible uses. You’ve probably come into contact with it before without even knowing it. Here you can find out what shellac can be used for and how it is made.

Shellac is a natural, resinous, amber-colored compound that can be used for a variety of purposes. Its properties are:
naturally
tough consistency when warm
very hard when dried and cold
good adhesion
shiny coating
not soluble in gasoline and turpentine oil
soluble in alcohol, organic acids and aqueous alkalis

Application of shellac

Due to its properties, shellac is primarily used as a coating agent, but is also used as an adhesive or binding agent. It is approved as a food additive as E 904. The range of application areas is large.

Food: As a protective layer, it keeps fruit and vegetables fresh for longer (often in combination with beeswax). You can find shellac as a coating on sweets such as chocolate, chewing gum, coffee beans and nuts.
Drugs: Coating of tablets
Cosmetics: shine effect in hairspray and nail polish, binding agent in mascara, emulsifier in creams
Paints and varnishes: binders, colorants, base for primers and printing inks
Surface treatment: polishing of wood (restoration and maintenance of furniture), fixing drawings such as pencil, charcoal or chalk drawings.
Adhesives: jewelry processing (e.g. for gluing stones), cigarette paper, as upholstery glue for instruments, for example the saxophone

Production of shellac

Shellac is formed when certain species of scale insects metabolize plant sap:
The (varnish) scale insect lives on the shoots, leaves and bark of various trees and feeds on plant sap. When the female lice lay eggs, they turn the sap into a resinous mass. This mass is a precursor of shellac. Gradually, this secretion completely surrounds the female lice like a kind of cocoon. When hardened, it acts as a protective layer for the eggs during the early stages of development. The mother lice die in the cocoon, the young lice burrow through the resin layer after about six months.
To obtain shellac, the resin is removed from the leaves and tree. The mass is washed and melted in several passes and formed into a thin layer. Once the material has dried, it breaks up and the characteristic flake shellac is formed. The secretion of around 300,000 lacquer scale insects is required for one kilogram of shellac.
Depending on the country of origin and tree species, shellac comes in different colors. For example, there is yellow lemon shellac or red ruby ​​shellac. Lacquer scale insects are primarily native to South Asia.

Shellac: harmful to health?

Shellac is an animal product. Due to the diverse areas of application, the industry requires large quantities of the substance. During production, numerous living lice are processed, which are still hidden in residues of the resin on leaves and pieces of bark. Therefore, shellac is not vegan and not vegetarian.

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Cooking Tips

Making Wine Yourself: Useful Information and Tools For Wine Production

Making wine yourself is the dream of many wine lovers. We give you an overview of the basic principles, the accessories and the fermentation methods to make wine yourself.

You can make your own wine from many different fruits. We are particularly familiar with wine made from grapes – in other regions and countries, on the other hand, wine made from apples, berries, cherries or even bananas. However, the basic principle of fermentation is the same: yeasts convert the sugar from the fruit into alcohol.

Make your own wine: mash fermentation or juice fermentation?

Basically, you can distinguish between two methods to make wine yourself: mash fermentation and juice fermentation.

During mash fermentation, you mash or puree the fruit and ferment it whole. Since the color of red grapes is mainly contained in the skin, you get red wine in this way (this does not apply to white grapes, of course). The mash fermentation is considered to be a little easier, and more aromas develop.
For juice fermentation, you squeeze the fruit and only ferment the juice. This is how bright and clear wines are created.
You can also first puree or mash the fruit into the fermentation balloon, squeeze out the juice after a few hours and ferment it. Then you get a rosé.

Make sweet or dry wine yourself

Whether a wine is sweet, semi-dry or dry depends on its sugar content. Since this decreases in the course of fermentation, a sweet wine is less fermented than a dry wine. Accordingly, you can make a sweet wine yourself by interrupting the fermentation process prematurely.

Making wine yourself: important accessories

Without the right accessories, it is relatively difficult to make wine yourself. If you have a few tools, it’s not that complicated.

These are the most important tools for winemaking:
Perhaps the most important tool for fermenting wine is a fermentation balloon, preferably made of glass. The jar should have a matching lid and fermentation attachment. The latter ensures that no air gets inside. To do this, the fermentation attachment allows CO2 to escape, which forms during alcoholic fermentation.
a suction hose or similar to be able to fill the wine out of the fermentation balloon
a scale that is as accurate as possible
a vinometer to measure the alcohol content of the wine (you often get it with the fermentation balloon)
a clean cloth for filtering
large bowls to prepare the fruit or decant the wine. Make sure that these are not made of metal so as not to affect the taste of the wine.
Tip: If you want to make wine yourself, you will not only find fermentation balloons on the Internet, but also complete starter kits.

Making wine yourself: The difficult selection of ingredients

The most important ingredient in wine is the fruit. No matter which fruit you use – they should be fresh, fully ripe and unsprayed. Consequently, freshly harvested organic fruits from the region are ideal for your wine. If you have the right conditions, you can also plant your own grapes.

If you are very puristic, the fruits are almost enough. All you have to do is add a bit of natural yeast and you’re ready to make natural wine yourself. However, even experienced winemakers find this difficult because fermentation with natural yeast is difficult to control. In addition, natural wine has a different taste than conventional wine.

Making wine yourself: these are the steps

Here you will find an initial overview of the stages that await you if you want to make wine yourself. If you actually plan to make wine, you can take a class or use detailed instructions from the internet or books. For the sake of simplicity, these instructions refer to grapes.

Sort the grapes and clean them, washing is not absolutely necessary. Do this very carefully so that no bad grapes spoil the wine afterwards. Important: If possible, do not let the grapes come into contact with metal, as this can change the taste.
Must fermentation or juice fermentation? For a mash fermentation you mash or puree the fruit, for a juice fermentation you squeeze them.
Depending on the recipe, add sugar, yeast and, if necessary, acid or lime to the mash or juice. Note: You can also add the sugar gradually, then there will be a little more alcohol at the end because the yeast can work more efficiently. However, it is easier to add all the sugar at once.
Fill the fermentation balloon with mash or juice, but no more than halfway! As soon as fermentation begins, CO2 is produced. The liquid will begin to bubble and sometimes overflow.
Place the fermentation balloon in a quiet place that has a temperature between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius all the time. After a few days, fermentation begins – the mixture bubbles.
If the fermentation is in full swing, you can also put the fermentation balloon in a cooler place. This slows down the fermentation.
After two to four weeks, there are hardly any bubbles left – the wine is ready. Now all you have to do is filter and bottle the wine. Note: If you have started mash fermentation, you can press out the juice after a few days and continue fermenting it. The longer the juice is in contact with the skin of the grapes, the darker the wine will be.

Important note on making wine yourself

Finally, the most important things to keep in mind when making wine:
Keep all your utensils very clean. This is how you prevent unwanted substances from getting into the wine.
Do not use metal accessories.
Follow the quantities exactly.
The first home-made wine may still taste a bit unusual. However, if you keep trying and adjusting your recipe, you’ll soon get satisfying results. It is best to start with a smaller amount of fruit.

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Food

Vanillin: Difference to Vanilla, Production and Worth Knowing

Vanillin is known to many people from baking with vanillin sugar. Here we explain the difference between vanillin and vanilla and between vanilla sugar and vanilla sugar.

Vanillin is a flavoring substance found in real vanilla beans. While vanillin is just one of many flavors found in vanilla, it accounts for the majority of the famous vanilla flavor. According to experts, however, it lacks the “bouquet”, the spectrum of different flavors of vanilla. Many people know from rum how multifaceted a bouquet can be. Here, too, connoisseurs speak of the bouquet.

Vanillin: Production of the vanilla alternative

through which he could artificially produce vanillin. With the help of the substance “Corniferins” from coniferous trees, the so-called “sugar splitting” gave it the tasteful vanilla-like aroma. Even today, conifers are an important source of vanillin.
In order to produce vanillin that does not come from real vanilla, “lignin” from spruce wood is usually used. Only rarely is vanillin based on eugenol in clove oil or guaiacol from guaiac trees.
100 kilograms of spruce wood provide about three kilograms of vanillin. Although the source of vanillin is natural, the extraction of vanillin is hardly more.
The necessary substance in spruce wood is obtained as a waste product during paper production by going through a so-called sulfite process. The flavoring produced here is also known as ethyl vanillin.

Flavoring substance vanillin: Many production possibilities

Obtaining it from clove oil is less problematic: the use of mold and bacteria produces the vanillin aroma from the ferulic acid in eugenol. However, this production is significantly more expensive and complex. Vanillin has also been extracted from cow dung and old newspaper.

In addition, vanillin can also be produced completely synthetically from petroleum or coal tar. Because of its carcinogenic properties, the EU severely restricted the use of coal tar.

The demand for real vanilla is too great to meet and vanilla production too difficult (more on this below). According to experts, we cannot avoid vanillin. Flavor expert Professor Ralf Berger advises that manufacturers should focus on biotechnologically produced vanillin (e.g. from clove oil) in the future. It can be produced with the help of living cells, bacteria and yeast fungi. For most foods, manufacturers isolate the basic ingredient vanillin anyway, according to the expert. It is therefore unnecessary to use “real” pods, as the flavoring is completely identical to the biotechnologically obtained substance.

Vanillin as an alternative to vanilla?

The vanilla plant itself (Vanilla planifolia) is a delicate orchid that is very susceptible to crop failures and tropical storms. This circumstance and the high crime rate are also the reason why small farmers in the main cultivation area (the island state of Madagascar) often have to fear for their livelihood. Since the plant is native to South America and lacks the hummingbirds and long-nosed insects that live there, farmers have to pollinate the flowers (40,000 for a kilo of vanilla) by hand. This work, the round-the-clock protection and the fermentation of the pods usually take whole months. A kilo of vanilla beans fetched around 600 euros in 2017. Because vanilla is so sensitive to natural conditions, it is a rarity. The peasants can demand large sums of money and still face the fear of theft and sometimes even murder.

Vanilla and vanillin: Help in the jungle of ingredients

What exactly is the difference between vanillin sugar and vanilla sugar? For real vanilla sugar, you need real vanilla beans. Vanillin sugar, on the other hand, is artificially produced. This is just sugar with an added vanillin flavor, which is mainly produced synthetically.

Vanilla: Vanilla is not a flavor, it is the spice with a “bouquet” of different flavors. If only vanilla is on the ingredient list – without any additional markers – then it’s real vanilla.
Bourbon vanilla: This label indicates particularly high-quality vanilla that comes exclusively from the Bourbon Islands (e.g. in La Réunion or Madagascar). Since these are the main growing areas for vanilla, most of the real vanilla comes from there.
Vanilla extract: Here the aroma is extracted with the help of ethanol and sugar and must be obtained 100 percent from the real vanilla pod. It contains a similar range of flavors as real vanilla.
Natural Vanilla Flavor: At least 95 percent must come from real vanilla, with the rest allowed to come from other sources for standardization.
Natural aroma: Although this is a natural source of the aroma, it is not the vanilla itself. For example, the aromas biotechnologically obtained from clove oil are meant.
Vanilla Flavor: If you only see the word “flavor” on product packaging, it’s a man-made substance from a non-natural source. What is meant are flavors from sulfite waste, petroleum or coal tar.
Many think that the black dots scraped out of the pod in pudding or ice cream indicate real vanilla. Unfortunately, these are often ground vanilla beans that have already been scraped out. These no longer contain a special vanilla flavor and are sold cheaply. So always check the list of ingredients for hidden flavors.

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