Fruit wild ferments and...I'm SO thrilled this forum exists!

[holdenmt]

I'd appreciate any input, and please excuse my total lack of knowledge. I am completely new to this. I'd really like to make some sort of wild ferment out of some lovely medjool dates. I understand there's not enough liquid there, but there's enough sugar, for sure. What would be a possible method - using the dates, some sort of liquid...and then sugar? Without adding any commercial yeast? And then I have a similar question for bottled cherries, with sugar already in them. For both, can I kick start the fermentation process by adding a piece of overripe fruit? Thanks so much - Maria

[WWFSM]

I haven't done it yet, but if I wanted to I would either try making a date 'wine' or mead.

For the 'wine' I would chop up 2/3 of the dates, then pour boiling water to cover them plus an inch, leave covered with a towel and soak overnight. The next day, add the remaining third of dates and maybe some more water so it is about twice as much water as dates, or three times. Stir vicariously at least twice a day, more often is great, until there starts to be a bubbling action (this is helping to capturer the wild yeast in the air and on the fruit. You can use commercial yeast if you like). When there are bubbles, you know you have caught yeast. If you don't have bubbles after 1 week, then add a pinch of brewers or bakers yeast, and keep stirring twice a day for another week. You can either bottle now, or put in an airlock for higher alcohol content.

For a mead like drink, add 1/2 cup of honey per gallon of liquid to the water on day two (the day after you soaked the dates overnight.

Dates are usually the fruit people add to ferments to kick start them, but if you would like to mix some other fruits in there, it shouldn't hurt. That's why we kept some of the dates aside raw so that the natural yeast wouldn't be killed by the boiling water. Soaking most of them in boiling water is just to get some of the flavour out into the water and release the sugars so the yeast has something to chow down on.

I think the cherries would work just as well, SO LONG AS there aren't any perspectives in them. If it's just cherries, sugar and water, should work fine (maybe bang a date or two in there to get some yeast happening).

If you can get your hands on a copy of Katz Wild Fermentation, he gives some great guidelines and advice on how to do this sort of thing. Your local library should have a copy, but be warned, borrowing one of his books from the library makes you want to own a copy.

Give it an experiment and let us know how it goes. It should work just fine without commercial yeast. But be careful not to use any antibacterial soap on your container as it will discourage the wild microbes from making a home in your 'wine'.

(I put wine in quotes because purest don't like this word applied to this kind of ferment, but to me it's like wine, so why not call it that?)