Topic: Cowslip Wine

[winecap]

I remember my mother saying that as a girl she used to pick bags of cowlips to sell to people who made wine from them. I have cowlips at my allotment and could have a lot more soon if I let the seedlings grow, so I was wondering whether people think cowslip wine is worth pursuing? Has anybody tried it?
Cheers. Jon.

[Gordonmull]

Never tried it but a description and recipe here:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques76.asp


Beware the short US gallon though.

[Gordonmull]

Hi Winecap

Did you go ahead with this one? I'd be interested to hear the preliminary results if you did.

Cheers

Gordon

[Digeroo]

I remember my mother saying that as a girl she used to pick bags of cowlips 

I remember there being lots of cowslips around when I was a child.  I had no idea that people were picking them to make wine.  They are making a comeback.  As far as I know they are a protected species. 

Surely you will need a huge quanitity to make wine, can you grow enough?

What about dandelions instead.

[macmac]

Weve got 6 cowslips in our lawn that OH faithfully mows around so I guess it'll be several years 'til they make it into a wine glass. ;D

[Gordonmull]

Used to see loads of them when walking to work at Thorpe Arch just outside Wetherby a few years ago. We don't get them in Scotland, that I've ever seen. Lovely wee flowers.

You'd only really need a handful of flowers to make wine with. (Still, 6 might not quite cut it  ;))

[Digeroo]

I have about a dozen plants in my lawn I have had about that many for about 20 years.  They are relatively short lived so they need to set seed to keep them coming.  OH also mows round them.   

They seem to have some kind of relationship with horses.  When the travellers move on many months later there are yellow flower circles where their horses were tethered. 

[winecap]

I shall probably have a go with this next year once the cowslips have multiplied a little more. They probably are protected in the wild, but I planted a couple alongside my raspberries just for decoration and they have really taken off. they tend to be small growing in a lawn, but without competition they grow several times bigger. I think most of the English cowslips were wiped out by herbicides in the 40s and 50s. I'd never even seen one when I was a child. In Sheffield most allotment sites have privet hedges around the plots so I'm hoping to edge the whole of my privet with cowslips. The clumps are easily split but they have also sprung up from the seed.

[Kleftiwallah]

Even if you have specifically grown the cowslips on your own land for winemaking, does the protected species still apply and will you get a visit from some 'jobsworth' from "Those in Authority" to give you a good wrist slapping ?


Cheers,     Tony.

[Gordonmull]

It isn't wildflower if you seed it and grow it yourself.  I'm not 100% but the spirit of the Wildlife  and Countryside Act would suggest not. I'm too tired to read it through, plus amendments to find out, but jobsworths would need a warrant in the first place. Grow, pick, enjoy, I'd say.