Using Wine Lees

You probably throw away your wine lees, that sludge left at the bottom of a carboy after racking. They don’t seem to be useful for anything besides compost. But they can be made into something delicious!

The following recipes are not suitable for pomace containing large seeds or large pieces of skin. They work with either fine lees or mashed fruit material that has been strained out of wine, depending on the recipe. The final products should contain little or no alcohol due to baking and heating.

WINE BREAD

The bread relies on the lees for its yeast and will not rise unless the yeast is active. Use fine lees that have been separated from wine within the past few hours and kept at room temperature. The lees should not contain too much fruit pulp so are best if from wine made from juice, not crushed fruit. The taste is similar to sourdough bread. (Recipe was adapted from an article at www.grapestompers.com.)

3/4 cup fine lees leftover from wine during first racking (or transfer to secondary), drained to remove liquid
2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ cup water

In a large bowl, stir together the wine lees, 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and 1/4 cup water. Add more water as needed to make dough. Knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to hands or bowl. Form into a ball, cover and place in a 60-65° F place to rise, until doubled in volume (about 2 hours).

Punch down dough and reshape ball. Cover and let rise again until doubled to twice the size (about 2 hours).

Punch down dough again, form into an oval and place in a greased bread pan. Bake at 375° F for 45-50 minutes or until done.

Makes 1 loaf.

WINE JAM

This was especially good with leftover pulp from cranberry wine. We have also used leftover pulp from Niagara wine and pineapple wine. The lees used here may contain some fruit pulp.

4 parts pulp/lees strained from wine when transferring or racking
1 part sugar

Combine ingredients in an appropriate size pot. Cook on low until sugar is dissolved, stirring often. Thickness of jam will depend on what fruit is used and how long it is cooked.

Fill sterilized jelly jars while hot and process as usual for jam. If you don’t know how to process jam, place mixture into freezer-safe containers leaving a ½” space at the top, cool, cover tightly, label and freeze. Keep refrigerated when thawed.

Starting with 4 cups of lees makes (4) 6-oz. jelly jars with a half jar left over.

APPLE or PEAR WINE BUTTER

The lees used here may contain some fruit pulp.

4 cups pulp/lees strained from apple or pear wine when transferring or racking
3 cups sugar
2 tbsp. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a 4-quart pot. Cook on medium-low until thickened, stirring often (may take up to an hour or more).

Fill sterilized jelly jars while hot and process as usual for jam. If you don’t know how to process jam, place mixture into freezer-safe containers leaving a ½” space at the top, cool, cover tightly, label and freeze. Keep refrigerated when thawed.

Makes (5) 6-oz. jelly jars.

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