Has anyone made honeysuckle wine?

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Honeysuckle took over the farm in Missouri after we sold the cattle. I used to think it was nice!
Amazing how fast it grows.
Near the house and gardens I'll pull it from the roots - which seem to be every 8 inches! Other parts of the property I'll just cut at ground level to give the trees a chance. Seems like weed killer makes them play dead.
 
Weed killer, (undiluted) directly on the fresh cut stem will kill it.

but I’m anxious to see how the napalm experiment goes. 🪴🔥🍂
I agree undiluted weed killer works great. I've even used it on small unwelcome trees with a taproot.

Unfortunately, the honeysuckle is very similar to strawberries - sends out runners, they root and send out runners, and so on.

It's interesting in one part of the property - the honeysuckle is covering multiflora rose, another aggressive invasive plant. I'm going to let them duke it out.

Need one more common item for my experiment. I love copycat recipes.
 
Dave, I’m curious about what direction you’re going in making flower wines now… making a tea or fermenting the flowers in primary. Have you tasted the two different versions of your honeysuckle? It’s probably too early… just wondering which way you’ve decided to go.
 
Dave, I’m curious about what direction you’re going in making flower wines now… making a tea or fermenting the flowers in primary. Have you tasted the two different versions of your honeysuckle? It’s probably too early… just wondering which way you’ve decided to go.
I tasted them when I transferred to secondary and they were both good but that was way to early to get an idea. First racking is in the near future and that should give a better indication.

I'm evolving and using a hybrid method.
I don't wash my flowers. Seems to me there should be some flavor in the pollen and nectar - at least I hope so. Now I pour hot not boiling water (200F) on the flowers AND leave them in primary. That temp is easily hot enough to kill things. I like doing it so far but time will tell.
 
I like your idea... there's a lot of goodness in the blooms, very much like the idea of raw honey vs. pasteurized. Very cool - can't wait to see how it's turning out. I think I'm going to try a lily wine based on your experience. Thank you for all the updates they are great ~
 
Racked!
Clearing nicely!
Flavors changing. At this point the tea version tastes like wine. Best way to describe it. Nothing special. Maybe chardonnay if I wanted to be VERY generous. Will not use this method again.

The other has so much flavor! Very happy! Fruity. Couldn't taste as much as I wanted because I was concerned about head space.


honeysuckle rack.jpg
 
Racked!
Clearing nicely!
Flavors changing. At this point the tea version tastes like wine. Best way to describe it. Nothing special. Maybe chardonnay if I wanted to be VERY generous. Will not use this method again.

The other has so much flavor! Very happy! Fruity. Couldn't taste as much as I wanted because I was concerned about head space.


View attachment 90767
Excellent experiment! I made elderberry wine last year and still don’t really like it. And every commercial elderberry gets the same reaction… “ehh”. Maybe I’m just not an elderberry fan. I hear good things about elderberry flower wine though. And I’m seeing bushes everywhere now. Maybe next year I’ll give it a go.
 
Dave, great stuff… thank you for the update! I am at the end of primary fermentation on a lily wine based on the hybrid tea and leave in method. I imagine it works well for some things but it may be too much for others. Great to hear you really like the second one, and that the first one is at least drinkable!
 
Dave, great stuff… thank you for the update! I am at the end of primary fermentation on a lily wine based on the hybrid tea and leave in method. I imagine it works well for some things but it may be too much for others. Great to hear you really like the second one, and that the first one is at least drinkable!
I made these just before I started experimenting with increased flavor element quantities. Perhaps increasing the flowers for the tea wine would help. Possibly/probably. At this point I have no desire to find out - other things to do. I'll call it a success because I learned something and I made wine. Unfortunately it's a boring wine.
 
Excellent experiment! I made elderberry wine last year and still don’t really like it. And every commercial elderberry gets the same reaction… “ehh”. Maybe I’m just not an elderberry fan. I hear good things about elderberry flower wine though. And I’m seeing bushes everywhere now. Maybe next year I’ll give it a go.
I'd like to try elderberry and elder flower. I've had one bush near the pond for 10 years. It's not spreading - somebody's slacking.
 

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