Jam and Wine

I've just spent the morning (and most of the afternoon) processing apples and peaches. It's my first attempt at making wine at home. I'm making an apple wine, from a combination of two recipes: one from my friend Chad, aka Evil Wizard, and one from the internet. I'm also trying my hand at some peach freezer jam.

The apples I'm using for the wine are from a combination of places: 98% of the apples came from the apple tree in my front yard. The rest is supplemented by 6 large gala apples from the grocery store that I had knocking around. So far I've chopped and cored the apples, over 30 cups worth, and mashed them a bit in my primary fermenting pail. I've added one pound of raisins and poured about 6 or 7 litres of boiling water over it all. Now the pail is covered and will sit for 24 hours before adding all of the other ingredients. 5or 6 days from now I'll mash the apples more and then strain them out, and add water to make 20 litres. After that I rack the wine after 3 weeks and then add some sugar. I want a slightly sweet wine, not a dry one.

As for the peach freezer jam, my friend gave me 4 packets of no-cook reduced-sugar freezer jam gelling powder. Each packet, along with the fruit and sugar, makes 4.5 cups of delicious freezer jam. It was super easy to make and I now have 4 full jars in my freezer, and one in my fridge. I had enough left over to spoon over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Next: I'll can some pears and make another batch of peach freezer jam. I can't wait for local tomatoes!