Potato Wines, Sherries, and/or Meads

• 5 lbs potatoes
• 2 lbs dark brown sugar
• 2 lemons
• 2 oranges
• 1/2 oz ginger root
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• water to one gallon
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• wine yeast

Use well-scrubbed, older potatoes. Under no circumstances use under-ripe (still greenish) potatoes, as they are toxic. Boil the potatoes in a gallon of water until tender but the skins unbroken. Remove the potatoes for other uses and retain the water for the wine. Put half the sugar in the water, along with the thinly peeled rinds (no pith, please) of the lemons and oranges and their juice. Thinly slice the ginger root and add to water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes while stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and strain water into primary. Cover with sterile cloth and allow to cool to 70 degrees F. Add pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient, recover and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and ferment 7 days, stirring daily. Add the rest of the sugar and stir until dissolved, then let set overnight to settle lees. Siphon into secondary, affix airlock and set aside to ferment out. Rack after 60 days, top up and reattach airlock. When wine clears, rack again, top up and reattach airlock. After 4 months, stabilize and rack into bottles. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre’s Home Wines of North America ]