Today, we explore the use of the noble onion in making wine. Here’s a map. I copied it from the Three Stooges. It has no relevance here. But it looks classy.

In this article I continue to copy the work of M.A. Jagendorf, who wrote “Folk Wines, Cordials and Brandies.”  This fine book was one of a very few items inherited from my wife’s grandmother.  This article is taken almost verbatim, just like the last winemaking article. No attempt has been made to verify any claims or recipes. And, like most of my articles, this is open post.

Today, we discuss the manufacture of onion wine, a talent which will be in great demand post-apocalypse.   I hear it goes well with green bread…

“DON’T TURN YOUR NOSE, or eyes, disdainfully from the onion, for a good and potent wine can be made from it. Remember, it has been cultivated, and actually worshiped, through countless silent years. The Egyptians were the first to worship it, and used it as a sacrificial offering and as one of their most important foods. The great strength of the men who sweated and worked on the ageless pyramids was attributed largely to the onions they ate, and they ate very large amounts indeed.

There is an inscription in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, c. 2900 B.C., that tells that 1600 talents of silver were spent for onions, radishes, and garlic for the workers on the stone tomb.

To the Hindus, too, the onion was a symbol of religious mysteries, solemnities, and divination. There are also innumerable references to it in the Bible.

Later on, the onion changed considerably historically and folk-loristically. It vacillated between favor and disfavor, but folks always remembered that it had once been an object of worship.

The Arabs and the Chinese used onions to ward off witches and demons, for these evil spirits had both fear and respect for the bulbous plant. Later, in some parts of these countries, onions were thrown at a newly married couple to keep away the evil eye.

Among the Greeks, the onion was presented as one of the gifts to a newly married couple, for the same reason that we throw rice at newlyweds. When Iphicrates married the daughter of King Cotys, among the wedding gifts there was a jar of snow, a jar of lentils, and a jar of onions.

And yet, necromancers say it is a plant of ill omen. To dream of onions forebodes coming trouble. Like so many other plants, the onion has long been used on the Continent for divination and fortunetelling. In parts of England, an onion named after Saint Thomas is peeled and wrapped in a clean kerchief and placed under the pillow.

In the last hundred years, our own chefs de cuisine have learned that it enhances and sweetens the taste of good soups and is invaluable for seasoning endless dishes. Fully 8% of our prepared foods contain onions.

With so important a place in the culinary realm, it surely deserves a place in viniculture. It makes a strong wine with a most unusual flavor, worth cultivating.”

RJ: Good Lord, Jagendorf can talk.  I cut out 500 words above, and 200 below.  Let’s get to it.

“You need:

  • 1 lb. onions
  • 1lb. uncooked barley or potatoes
  • 2 lbs. raisins
  • 2 gals. water
  • 4lbs. sugar
  • ½ oz. yeast (2 packages)
  1. Peel and slice the onions and put them into a crock.
  2. Clean and add either barley (my own preference) or potatoes, washed and sliced.
  3. Cut up the raisins and put them in.
  4. Warm the water, in which the sugar has been dissolved, and pour it into the crock.
  5. Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup warm water and pour it into the liquid.
  6. Cover, set in a warm place (65°-70°), and let ferment, stirring daily. The fermentation will take about fourteen days or more.
  7. Then strain, clear, fine if necessary, and bottle.

The result will be a strong, dry wine with a most unusual taste. No, there will not be an onion bouquet!”