Verjuice / Verjus

General Cooking tips

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Westi
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I've read a bit about this & out of interest bought some! It's like the Roman equivalent of fish sauce, giving an unknown depth of flavour to cover the 'sour' element in dishes sweet & savoury! (Replaces lemon juice & vinegar in recipes).

Not tried it as only came today, but the Aussie's are mad on it! Then remembered an old cookbook I bought in a table top sale that mentioned it somewhere, only to find they have how to make it at home, which is not quite the same as the vineyards do. It is just green grapes squished when just starting to swell. Vineyards ferment the juice a bit, but you can just freeze it with same effect.

Anyone tried it? I will of course but would be interested in whether others had & what they think. As my grapes never grow big as I don't really know what to do with them & no way am I going to take my nail scissors down to thin the bunches it might be my new enterprise - if it is any good! (Pawty take note, big bucks to be made as all imported & nearly £9 for a 1/2 size wine bottle - good way to clear the surplus from the family vineyard)??

Westi
Westi
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Pawty
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Westi - I'll have to look in to it and buy a bottle for my in laws.... You never know! Although the wine they produce is very good ....

I too watched Monty with his scissors, painstakingly cutting away grapes ...... I had nightmares for weeks! A couple of weekends ago I spent qiute a few hours pruning, tying down vines and tightening wiring.... The thought of attending to each bunch of grapes like that brings me out in a sweat ......

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Westi
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Hi Pawty

If they have a reputation for good wine, then they can charge a lot more for this stuff. It's made to cover the years when the harvest is not good for some weather event or another, or using the crop on immature vines, or those darn wee ones that just won't ripen.

I've tasted it now, different to what I expected. It's not too sour at all & there are layers of flavour afterwards. Think it going to lift winter dishes although will try it in salad dressings. Mines from Spain & I got it from Amazon.

Westi
Westi
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