Since starting winemaking, are you eating healthier too?

[Minnesotamaker]

I've done some reflection lately and I've noticed that I serve healthier meals since starting to make my own wine. I certainly drink more wine now that I have a cellar full, but I've also changed my eating habits. I don't know if it's just a reflection of getting older, or if it is connected to wine.

In the past, we'd normally serve some type of meat, veggie, bread, and fruit. But now that wine has been added to our diet, a vegetarian meal feels "complete" without the meat. Fresh bread with a little garlic olive oil or humas when coupled with wine is very satisfying by itself. Pasta with veggies from the garden and a little asiago cheese and seasonings sounds better than steak and potato when the right wine is served.

Anyone else have this same gut feel? [no pun intended]

 

[millwright01]

Yes we are the same way. As a farm boy it used to HAVE to be meat and potato for me. Now, a good wine paired with flavorful food is often preferred. I regularly find myself sitting down to a great salad and glass of our own great wine. We still eat the old favorites but like you many meals are now a lot healthier. I go through a LOT less beer and haven't opened a bottle of pop (mix) since July!

 

[bigwheel]

grillin is a event now that im making my own wine,cant say why but wine and grillin u dont care as much about eating. skeeter juice maranade.

 

[jtstar]

I have notice that I don't drink as much beer as I used too as far as cooking me and the wife work different hours so we don't do a lot of cooking at home but when we do it is healthy. And I am saving a lot of money that I would have spent on beer

 

[cold]

First Post! Hi y'all!

Healthier? Maybe. Always enjoyed cooking. Friends and families have always been health nuts. Or had diabetes. Or needed low salt.

Better? Definately!

Well, we now have a fruit ripening area. Store bought pears and melons definately taste better if we let them ripen 10 days. Best cantaloupe ever, if you can keep the rest of the household away from them for 10 whole days. Lots of thumping, smelling and 'listening' to the cantaloupe. Honeydews need to sit at least a week. Ripening Honeydews is very hard work and requires constant policing.


The pear wine never got made. The pears were just too tasty. Pear sauce is better on pork chops than apple sauce.

The nasty, hard as rock plums became incredible after almost 3 weeks of ripening.

Plums, and plum wine, apparently, based on googling, are used in asian cooking a lot. We whipped up some plum sauce for pork chops. Very tasty.

Then there is the whole skeeter pee thing. I cannot go into any food store without reading juice labels. I am beginning to learn about preservatives and know them by name.

And that 'No preservatives' means that there still can be 'natural coloring' added.

Made with 100% real juice means there can be all sorts of juices in it.

Blueberry 'punch' means that there can be all sorts of juices contained in the punch, not just expensive blueberry.

Carrot juice is in everything.

The popular juices people KNOW that people are going to ferment their fruit juices into wine. I saw a very popular high end juice mentioned often on this forum list on the FRONT LABEL "Juice, Vitamin C and Potassium Metabisulfate".

Juice, Pot Meta and Vitamin C only. On the Front label. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Take me home. Ferment me.

Saw some pomegranate juice in the store today. Had some sediment on the bottom. Very tasty looking.

 

[Sirs]

myself I know I've always been the type to graze constantly when it comes to food wife wants to kill me cause I don't gain weight. I grew up eating healthy and guess it's always stuck I've always loved veggies of any type and when I learned to cook everything in the service it really got me going I love to cook and know whats good so wine makes it even better. I still love meat but I love wild meat best I dislike most any store bought stuff, wild or natural is what I like best.

 

[NSwiner]

I had to start eating healthier for medical reasons before we started making wine . Now the wine makes it easier to tolerate . A glass of wine can even make a salad taste really good lol . I don't know if an age thing or what but I do find myself trying things I never would have 10 years ago.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

........ I don't know if an age thing or what but I do find myself trying things I never would have 10 years ago.

We are still talking about food........ aren't we?

 

[Sirs]

We are still talking about food........ aren't we?

now thats funny

 

[ThousandJulys]

I think that having a variety of wines available, made by yourself, is a very rewarding and bountiful hobby. Right now, the variety of wines I have is great. I can match any fruit wine I have to the right type of food. And the food I eat is tending to be more healthy.

Bountiful is what I am still working on. I find myself purchasing wine and brew, just because I want to keep my cellar mostly full. I am currently not making any wine at the moment, and it feels strange. I have a 22 gallon capacity in various 1-3-5 gallon glass carboys, all lonely and ready to go. Time to load up on fruit and sugar. Happy fermenting my fellow winemakers and happy holidays!

 

[Minnesotamaker]

ThousandJulys, Looking at your list of bottled wines, you have a great variety. Drinking a little of this and a little of that over time has got to be beneficial in the vitamins and minerals department.

 

[ThousandJulys]

That has crossed my mind as well, Minnesotamaker! I'm currently starting a sweet cherry mixed with chopped up dried Montmoncery cherries, mixed with three types of 100% PURE pomegranite juices. If that's not good for us (or the clarifying agents strip it of it's anti-oxidant and phytonutrient content) then I don't know what would be! Us winemakers sure know how to maximize fruit yields.

 

[ThousandJulys]

BTW, my friend just dropped off a bottle freshly shipped from Hawaii. It's a pineapple wine called Maui Blanc. Delicious. Never smelled a better fruit wine, I believe. Fabulous.

 

[dpambianchi]

A meta-analysis of scientific data clearly demonstrates the very strong correlation between wine and a healthy lifestyle ... i.e. a healthy lifestyle is conducive to better drinking and vice versa.

 

[ThousandJulys]

I'm making a Cherry Pomegranate wine mix today. That has to be healthy!

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I'm making a Cherry Pomegranate wine mix today. That has to be healthy!

Now the challenge is to not get hit by a bus, or someone else will end up with your healty organs.

 

[ThousandJulys]

Your avatar scares me enough! I need my organs.

 

[abefroman]

ThousandJulys, Looking at your list of bottled wines, you have a great variety. Drinking a little of this and a little of that over time has got to be beneficial in the vitamins and minerals department.

Antioxidents too.