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Claire Ruston's avatar

We have loads of vines in our garden and, although we make wine with the grapes, I'm ashamed to say I never do anything with the leaves. This post might just change that! Also, yay for horta.

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Clare Heal's avatar

Interested in the wine making. How much do you make and how long do you leave it before you drink it?

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Claire Ruston's avatar

We drink it young, following the lead of our Bulgarian neighbours. We can usually start drinking it within a month or two (although, it's fine to leave it longer). So we make it in the autumn, about 20 litres of red wine, then we're drinking the first of it by Christmas and throughout the winter. It's a light, slightly fizzy red. We do make white wine as well (we have fewer white grape vines) but have found it to be a bit hit and miss in terms of successes. Not sure why...

My partner's the winemaker (I do the ginger beer and kombucha, and he does the wine and cider), but if there's anything you want me to ask him, just drop me a message x

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Katerina Pavlakis's avatar

I grew up in Greece with chorta. It took me a long time to translate this dish to cooking in the UK but I now merrily pick nettles and dandelion leaves for a British-Isles version. Beetroot greens also make a great chorta version.

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Clare Heal's avatar

Beetroot greens is a great idea! Will give that a go next time I have some.

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