Oregon fruits at grocery

[redderthebetter]

Last week I was looking for Oregon fruits in my store. I found pitted cherries in water, and found cans each of blackberry, bluberry, and raspberry. All of the berries were packed in heavy syrup. I suppose these products were meant for pie and pastry making. Can anyone think of a reason, I might not want to use fruit that is packaged like this? I forgot to check what type of syrup it was but with the heavy use of High Fructose being used today I would assume that is what it is. I am contemplateing buying and either using all of the cans contents, or draining that syrup and adding my own sugar and water to build up the SG. Would fruit that has been sitting in syrup need pectic enzyme? The cans were 14 oz and I believe they were $1.98 each.
Any thoughts?

 

[Wade E]

Well I have done the Pears in heavy syrup and it came out pretty darn
good. As far as the pectic enyme, I would always use it as it will help
break down the fruit and help clear up any pectin haze.

 

[jobe05]

Redder:


I have made cherry wine with fruit packed in water (oregon) and it turned out very good. I beleive, fruit that is in a heavey syrup can not be used. The syrup is thickened with corn startch, or something like that. I would think if they had cherries in water, they would have blueberries, blackberries and the like. They do at my store here in NC.

 

[jobe05]

AH...... Conflicting information on the Syrup.............


Go with the experienced opinion!(wade's), as I have had no experience with the syrups, just the ones packed in water.

 

[Wade E]

Not all heavy syrup is the same though. I would check to see if there
are any other ingredients in the can that might hinder fermentation. I
have seen other brands of cherries and a few other fruits in water and
would feel safer recommending the ones in water as long as none of them
have any sorbate or sorbic acid in the ingredients. I may have just
gotten lucky with the pears! This is why I usually use the Vintners
Harvest Wine Base. You cant go wrong with that.

 

[pkcook]

redder,
I've made Cherry, blackberry, Red Raspberry twice, and currently have a plum going all made from Oregon canned fruit (15 oz cans). On the cherry and red raspberry, I added concentrate to the primary to boost the flavor. All wines have turned out wonderful. I made a port from the blackberries and have not opened a bottle yet, but it tasted pretty good at bottling time!


All have fermented without problems!

 

[Wade E]

Have you used any in the heavy syrup just so we know if theose come out good?

 

[jojo]

My gallon of blackberry just completed primary with no apparent problems. I put all the syrup in there.

 

[Wade E]

There's your answer redder, thats the answer we were looking for!

 

[pkcook]

Like jojo, I used the Oregon fruit with all the syrup on every batch. The syrup seems to pull quite a bit of the color from the fruit, which helps make a very rich colored wine.


One note, make sure you check SG before adding sugar. With the syrup,you couldover sugar your must very easily.


I don't have a single can in the house right now, but I'm almost positive there are no sorbates in the fruit. Edited by: pkcook

 

[Wade E]

Thanks for the info PK

 

[jojo]

Like jojo, I used the Oregon fruit with all the syrup on every batch. The syrup seems to pull quite a bit of the color from the fruit, which helps make a very rich colored wine.


One note, make sure you check SG before adding sugar. With the syrup,you couldover sugar your must very easily.


I don't have a single can in the house right now, but I'm almost positive there are no sorbates in the fruit.

I got the label right here. No sorbate. Just fruit and sugar and water.


Mine was pretty light, then turned dark after primary.


I have a half jar of blackberry juice that will work as a suss reserve kicker after it dries out and is stabilized.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds awesome and as always, thanks for the info.

 

[redderthebetter]

Alright i guess that does it. I'm in. I have 2-3 pounds of BlackBerries in the freezer. I might get a few cans of fruit and concoct something.

 

[Wade E]

Thats the spirit!