Wine from Pie Filling?

[scumbuster]

Has anyone ever tried this and what were the results? I am an expat living in South America and while we have a great variety of fruits, some fruits you just cant get here. Blueberry and Cherry for example are unheard of here. Fresh or frozen are a no go, so I was wondering if I got cans of pie filling if it might work to make wine out of it. I will be back in the states 4 days in early Dec. and room in the suitcases is valuable, so I don't want to buy a bunch of cans if it isn't going to work. Any thoughts on this? I figure the thick filling has a lot of color and sugar so it could work if there are not any preservatives that would interfere.
Any recipes to share if its been done? How much per gallon of wine?

 

[Yooper]

Has anyone ever tried this and what were the results? I am an expat living in South America and while we have a great variety of fruits, some fruits you just cant get here. Blueberry and Cherry for example are unheard of here. Fresh or frozen are a no go, so I was wondering if I got cans of pie filling if it might work to make wine out of it. I will be back in the states 4 days in early Dec. and room in the suitcases is valuable, so I don't want to buy a bunch of cans if it isn't going to work. Any thoughts on this? I figure the thick filling has a lot of color and sugar so it could work if there are not any preservatives that would interfere.
Any recipes to share if its been done? How much per gallon of wine?

Yes, you can do that.

I didn't use pie filling, but one time I used a HUGE plastic can of cranberry sauce, like a restaurant sized container, and made cranberry wine.

I really like Jack Keller's website for stuff like this, and I know he has canned fruit recipes but probably not pie filling recipes. http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques38.asp

 

[scarekrow]

Instead of canned pie filling why not get dehydrated fruit and berries. Craisins are the number one fruit that comes to mind, dehydrated cranberries. Prunes, blueberries, apricots, and a lot of others.
Candied fruit is another choice.
Anything that is dried, dehydrated, or candied can be reconstituted and used in wine as long as they didn't use a mess of preservatives. Plus you can vacuum seal a lot more dehydrated cherries then pie filling cherries. Less weight, equals more product.

 

[scumbuster]

@scarecrow. The dehydrated fruit sounded like a great idea, but the cost of dehydrated blueberries and cherries is astronomical. hahaha Best blueberry deal I can find is 4 lbs for $30.00 and cherries are higher. Wondering how many dehydrated berries to a gallon of wine. I guess if 4 lbs. made a few gallons it wouldn't be so bad.

 

[Nogud247]

@scarecrow. The dehydrated fruit sounded like a great idea, but the cost of dehydrated blueberries and cherries is astronomical. hahaha Best blueberry deal I can find is 4 lbs for $30.00 and cherries are higher. Wondering how many dehydrated berries to a gallon of wine. I guess if 4 lbs. made a few gallons it wouldn't be so bad.

Just imagine what 4lbs dehydrated weight would equal reconstituted though. Could be a lot. I'm sure there's a conversion online somewhere.

 

[agrazela]

Fresh fruit is typically 80 to 90 percent water, dried fruit maybe 15 to 20 percent. So work that into your cost comparison. Generally about a 4 to 5 fold weight reduction.

Store bought jam or jelly is at best 35 to 40 percent fruit, canned pie filling is at best 25 to 30 percent fruit. And that would be for super-premium stuff.

On balance, I'd say if you're planning to smuggle maximum fruit in minimum space with the least handling issuess, dried is going to be your best bet by far.

 

[bernardsmith]

Jam or jelly works too. You need to add pectic enzyme to break down the pectins. Not sure why this happens but jams made with high fructose sugars seem to cause the fermentation to stall. While I don't normally add water to my fruit wines I do add water to any jams I use to make wine.

 

[scumbuster]

Well I just ordered 8 lbs of dried blueberries and 4 lbs of dried cherries. I will bring them back with me on Dec. 8th. Now I just need to find a couple recipes to use the dried fruit as compared to fresh fruit. Blueberry and Cherry wine will be a nice change from what I have made lately. Thanks for that suggestion @scarecrow.
What do you think? The best way to rehydrate the fruit is with hot water in the primary fermenter?

 

[traveling mik]

Anybody have a recipe for pie filling wine?

 

[lumpher]

Anybody have a recipe for pie filling wine?

No. You might as well make hooch from Walmart juice, sugar, and wine yeast.

 

[madscientist451]

I figure the thick filling has a lot of color and sugar so it could work if there are not any preservatives that would interfere.
Any recipes to share if its been done? How much per gallon of wine?

Anybody have a recipe for pie filling wine?

Go for it with a small batch, what do you have to lose?
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/wine-from-fruit-fillings.221/