Jerusalem Artichoke Wine

• 5-6 lbs Jerusalem artichoke tubers
• 2 lbs dark or light 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

Scrub Jerusalem artichoke tubers, do not peel. Boil tubers in about 7 pints of water until tender. Remove the Jerusalem artichokes for other uses and retain the water for the wine. Put 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 15-20 minutes while stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and strain water into primary. Cover with sterile cloth and allow to cool to room temperature. Add pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient, stir, recover and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and ferment 7 days, stirring daily. 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. Rack again after 2 months and again 2 months later. Stabilize, sweeten if desired, allow to set 14 days to ensure fermentation does not restart, and rack into bottles. [Author’s own recipe ]