Loquats?

[WineNewbie]

Anyone ever make wine from Loquats, also known as Japanese or Chinese Plums?


A friend of mine has several trees and gave me about 10 Lbs of them yesterday. I found a recipe on Jack Keller's site.


They were a real pain to clean/remove seeds. Took me over 3 hours! I sure hope it is worth the effort. They're in the freezer now until I have time to make the wine.
Anyway...just wondering if anyone here has ever tried or if anyone has a different recipe.

 

[smurfe]

I think Ramona was asking the same question a couple years ago. I don't remember if she ever used them or not. Maybe she will chime in here.

 

[scubaman2151]

What color is the fruit? I have tried both the white and orange ones. The white ones have basically no flavor whatsoever to them, while the orange ones are nice and sweet. I not too sure how well the white ones would work. But defiantly worth a try.
Scuba

 

[WineNewbie]

These are yellow in color and are quite sweet.

 

[scubaman2151]

I would think those would work pretty well then.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I was just reading about native and semi-native fruits and saw this...

Loquats (Eriobotrya japonica, aka Japanese plum) are fruit trees indigenous to southeastern China, but is now grown in Florida and California. It is an evergreen large shrub or small tree that can grow to 5-10 m tall, but is often smaller, about 3-4 m. Loquats are unusual among fruit trees in that the flowers appear in the fall or early winter, and the fruits are ripe in late winter or early spring.


The fruit is very slightly fuzzy, and a light orange color, or orange-yellow. and have a large pit in the middle (or even several pits in the very center; up to 7, but usually 1 or 2)The fruit is a creamy white inside and is sweet (with some subacid or acid) if left to ripen on the tree before picking. The fruit should be peeled prior to eating; the skin, though thin, can be pulled off manually if the fruit is ripe. Also, the seeds MUST be removed before use, as they are toxic! It does make a wonderful jelly, and will grow in the deep South of the US. The tree won't bear fruit until it is about 10 yrs old (and the winter conditions have to be right in order to bear fruit).


The loquat is comparable to the apple in many aspects, with a high sugar, acid and pectin content. It is eaten as a fresh fruit and mixes well with other fruits in fresh fruit salads or fruit cups. Firm, slightly immature fruits are best for making pies or tarts. The fruits are also commonly used to make jam, jelly and chutney, and are delicious poached in light syrup. A type of loquat syrup is used in Chinese medicine for soothing the throat, like a cough drop. Loquats can also be used to make wine. Loquats are easy to grow and are often also grown as an ornamental tree.
So...there you go...Make yourself some wine....

 

[pelican]

When I lived in Florida back in the 1990s, I had a Loquat tree - the fruit is very tasty, I never knew the seeds were toxic though. The texture of the fruit is a lot like an apple, sort of on the dry side perhaps at times, but there is a delicate sweetness and very appealing flavor. It probably would make a very interesting wine.

I also had calamondin, kumquat, and a mulberry tree -- really miss all those fruits sometimes! I must have made about 3 dozen pints of kumquat marmalade one year... then moved overseas and had to dump them all out

I wish I had that mulberry tree now!!!!!

 

[WineNewbie]

Now I'm a little worried. I removed all of the seeds before freezing them, but I did not peel the skins. I ate several with the skins still on and they tasted fine. No different than eating an apple or pear with skin on.


Hope this doesn't impart any off flavors in the wine. They are still in the freezer...there is no way I'm going to peel them all now.


I guess I will try them with skins on.


I wonder if these would be good candidates for steam juicing? (don't have a steam juicer yet, but this would be a good excuse to finally get one)

 

[rgecaprock]

Hi WineNewbie,


I never made wine from them but they are growing all over the apartment complex here. Not ripe yet though. I was thinking of making some the other day when I walked past them. Welcome to the Forum and let me know how it turns out for you.
Smurfe....great memory!! Ramona

 

[s.arkvinomaker]

I've made several plum wines but never this one. Plu is a fruit wine
I make in some variety evry year because it is a favorite of mine and
those I share it with. All have been very pleasant in fruityness. I prefer
to blend them with a peach or mango wine for balance. But they are good
by themselves. I would be tempted to blend this one with mango just
to enhance the tropical flavor.

 

[elbe]

Hi all,

I am new to wine making - made a some gallon recipies this past year. But I thought I would post because a couple of those gallons were loquat.

I love my loquate tree. It is troublefree, prolific, attractive and has fine fruit which make great jam.

The first loquat wine, I made in June, bottled in Sept and drank, the first bottle, in February. Not that great, really. But I am still hoping it will come around. Even the peach I made - after a year - tasted pretty good.

I used the skins and added a banana. I hope you will try the loquat and let us know. I am thinking of a loquat peach combo -they are similar in many ways - the peach is sweeter but the loquate has a citrus tang which should go somewhere interesting.

 

[WineNewbie]

Elbe,


Welcome to the forum. This is the best forum out there. Hope you stay a while.
Thanks for the insight on the loquats. I am definitely going to give this wine a try after I bottle some of the batches I have going right now. Just haven't had the timeto thaw them out and get it started.

 

[trashy]

There was a bottle or two of this at last year's WineStock. It was my favorite of all the country wines.

Go for it!