Free… if…

I’m very picky about words and their meanings — and how context holds a lot of power in the equation. This doesn’t surprise me, I’m a wordsmith at heart and I learned early on that words have power, and context means everything.

I’ve had a degree of heartburn for a long time about the use of the word ‘free,’ particularly as it’s used in advertising.

“Free” is a powerful word that has cost a lot of lives over the course of human history. Whether we’re talking a people freed from slavery, our own personal freedom from sin, addiction, or other figurative monkey on our backs, the idea of being free is something that should be treated with respect and used carefully.

We’ve also been carefully trained (by the retail industry and their commercial psychologists) to think of “free” as “getting something for nothing.” And herein lies the problem: the “free” they preach isn’t truly free. It’s “free, if…” — in other words, something is “free” IF you do something first.

FREE Shipping!

There’s one huge online retailer whose use of “free” is particularly annoying, but the problem is by no means confined to this company. They’re just easy to pick on because they’re a prominent example :).

“Join our club and get FREE shipping!”

“Join our club and read lots of books for FREE!”

“Buy one, and the second is FREE”

None of the above examples are offering anything FREE. They’ve simply constructed a pricing strategy that allows them to meet a price point by offering two or more items or services for the price of one.

They’re only telling you something is FREE because that’s sexier than saying that you can get more stuff for no additional charge. If it’s sexy, people will buy it. And not ask too many questions. At least until later when they find out there was a price, after all.

Them’s weasel words. Gotta watch your six, folks.

What I’m Saying

We are living in a world that has become deeply and bitterly divided over words and their meanings. A lot of this division has happened because there aren’t enough people asking questions, and keeping asking until they get answers.

Case in point: Who’s in and who’s out in America (which doesn’t mean the same thing across the board).

I don’t need to name issues here. It’s very easy to see that, while it’s being said a lot of different ways, it comes down to being told we need to fear things that are different from ourselves and our way of thinking. And there are a lot of weasel words being used to justify a way of thinking that’s very harmful.

America, Land of the Free (and Different)

There’s a lot of truth in the statement that those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it. This is something that resonates very strongly with me because of my own heritage. In general, it’s Northern European, but heavily Scots-Irish and German.

If you check America’s history from the last 125 years, you’ll quickly find that these two nationalities weren’t much welcomed in America at first — and they’re not the only ones. They were DIFFERENT, and the more-established citizens didn’t like that… and treated them badly.

Now we’re being told we should fear Islam, gay people, liberals, conservatives, socialists, and anyone else who doesn’t want to raise a wall to keep “those people”out of our space. The word FREE is being used because, you guessed it, it’s sexy… something we respond to without a lot of critical thought.

Friends and fellow Americans, we’re being had. The ones who are stirring up all this conflict aren’t interested in any FREEDOM but their own, and they’ve turned FREE into a weasel word so we won’t look to closely at what they’re doing.

The idea of America being a great melting pot that is stronger because we’ve come from so many different peoples and places is getting drowned out by the manipulation of opportunists.

I don’t have a problem with things not being all the same. It’s less boring. Truth be told, I’ve had more problems with people in America than those who want in. That should tell you something… if you’re willing to look past the weasel words and really see.

We are a FREE people. FREE means that sometimes, things are going to be DIFFERENT, and that good things can happen. FREE means you can tell the manipulators that enough is enough and the war needs to be over.

Go now, and live the way you’re meant to live: FREE.

What are we hiding from?

It’s been on my mind lately as I watch people in my corner of the world. So many people going through their days wearing headphones, earphones, etc., listening to tunes. I cringe when I see them using crosswalks or riding bicycles in traffic. Distraction can be deadly.

Maybe we’re just afraid of silence and take any measure needed to avoid it, and it’s now going overboard.

Way back in the 1981, a futurist named Faith Popcorn predicted a growing trend in America called “cocooning,” in which people find ways to disconnect from the world and the dangers they perceive. You can read an interesting article about some of the “Popcorn Predictions” here. A lot of her predictions have come true — 95%, she claims on her website.

People are cocooning, finding ways to keep the world away while they stay in a comfortable cocoon that’s safe and only has what they want to deal with. Like music.

Creating your own life soundtrack has its advantages. For one thing, you can keep out anything that harshes your vibe, if you know what I mean.

Or can you?

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying music that inspires, comforts, energizes, or just helps you get through the day. Or night. Sometimes a good, loud rock anthem is the only thing that will lift me up from the darkness that is trying to suck me in and keep me.

That said, don’t shut the world out entirely. While there is definitely a lot of scary stuff out there, there’s good stuff, too. There are people to engage with. If you’re a spiritual or religious person, there are signs of the Holy everywhere to remind you of the greater supernatural aspect of life which can bring you peace and understanding better than anything else.

Be well, and be at peace — and remember that what’s beyond yourself often holds more for you than you can bring on your own. It’s not always silent, and you don’t have to be afraid of everything because there’s good to be found.

If you’re not from the rural American Midwest, you may never have run across a Cenex. A combination of truck stop, cafe, convenience store, and social center, they’re a part of the landscape here.

For their communities, they’re a hub of activity. Not only are they a source of fuel, tires, and mechanics for the town and surrounding countryside, they’re a place to get together. After football games on Friday night everyone heads there for pizza or sub sandwiches; Saturdays in the fall, hunters come in to buy a license after a good day shooting things (yes, it happens). Sunday mornings, a lot of people make a beeline to the Cenex after church so they can drink coffee and second-guess the preacher.

For some small towns, it’s the only place outside of church to get together if you don’t want to go to the bar.

You might not have known that not all convenience stores are a place of good will. Some of them, particularly those at crossroads, have a darker purpose: trapping souls for the Devil.

Now, before you go accusing me of nonsense or worse, listen to what I have to say. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about people meeting the Devil at a crossroads. Usually the story involves them bartering their souls for one thing or another and eventually paying a high price for their foolishness. It’s nothing new; these encounters have been happening as long as there have been roads and crossroads — even in the days when roads and crossroads were just footpaths.

It’s true, the Devil doesn’t limit his activities to the world’s crossroads. You can find him almost anywhere, even in church, and there will always be people who get themselves in trouble anywhere they go. When the Devil’s involved, you don’t have to be looking for him to find trouble! Crossroads are special because they’re a place of power and influence for the Devil and his ilk.
For a long time, people would meet the Devil at the crossroads by design or by accident. They might have gone there looking for Ol’ Scratch, or they might have been passing through and got tripped up. The main thing is, those places are trouble just waiting to happen.

In the days of foot and horse travel, it was pretty easy for the Devil to waylay somebody. When people started getting cars and driving long distances without stopping, things changed. The Devil might be waiting at the crossroads, but when people weren’t stopping at them, the pickings were not quite so easy. Until recently.

One day fifty or sixty years ago the Devil was at a crossroads on a major highway. He was in a foul mood because of the number of potential customers he was losing. “If only they would stop long enough for me to work on them,” he groused, “The rest would be easy.”

It didn’t take long: a week later, the Devil had figured out a way to get people to stop at the crossroads instead of just passing through. He’d realized that once they’d stopped, the rest was easy: the tricks and traps that had caught souls for millennia would do just fine.

He was right. All that was needed was a bright, shiny attention-getter to entice travelers to stop just long enough to put a hook or two into their souls. The solution? Convenience stores.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “The Devil didn’t invent convenience stores,” and you’re right. He didn’t. He just makes good use of them. You’d be surprised how many souls have gone down the road to perdition never to return because they fell under the spell of Twinkies, fried food, and magazines wrapped in plastic.

Today, the Devil and his minions own and operate convenience stores at crossroads throughout the world. Filled with an amazing array of bright, shiny temptations for weary travelers, the stores pull in untold thousands of potential victims… and business is booming.

The next time you’re traveling, the signpost up ahead may be announcing you’re not far from a friendly convenience store… and it may also be pointing out that you’re only moments away from one of Hell’s branch offices. Keep this in mind. Do you really need a Twinkie that badly?

I don’t know about the rest of the world, just my corner of it: there must be a lot of people out there who don’t mind being played (as suckers). Why? You need look no further than your email and the adverts sent to you. You don’t get them? That’s ok, just pick a shopping website, you’ll see the same thing: the almighty * (asterisk).

OMG, you are so rude! I am NOT played as a sucker!!

I count the “made ya look” moments by the way.

So. The *.

There’s a certain online clothing company I purchase from who sends me a few emails each week with new sales and so on. It’s OK, I signed up and they’re not spamming me. I like them, I hate clothes shopping and they ease my burden.

That said, I end up deleting most of the emails and not buying anything. Why? They overuse the * and I can’t get the deals I want on the products I want.

ORDER AT LEAST $100 OF MERCHANDISE AND WE’LL GIVE YOU $50 OFF!!*

Hot dog, we goin’ shoppin’!

Oh. Look behind Door #3? Well sheeeeeeit….

Not applicable on clearance, shoes, Big Brand®, Another Big Brand®, Yet Another Big Brand® … and all merchandise shipped directly from third-party brands.

Made ya look.

End result: I don’t buy as much as they’d like me to because much of what I like is either clearance, shoes, or sold on their website by a third party. What happens a lot is, I’ll see something I like and buy it from another site that’s charging what the discounted price would have been had I been able to use the money-off promotion.

Makes me think of…

Who knows how much time any of us spend looking at something unfruitful because we just jumped in without checking the * first?

Time is the most valuable thing you have because you can’t save it, and once it’s spent, that’s it. No do-overs, you won’t get it back.

Best to spend it meaningfully so one day, when you take the long look back, you don’t find you’ve lost out.

This article has affiliate links to products sold on Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

I remember a fall season long ago in which the annual wine-making with my dad didn’t go quite as planned. We were making plum wine and it was going to be wonderful. Except… I’m not sure how exactly it happened, but shortly after we bottled about 20 gallons of wine, it all went to vinegar. Rapidly. Not a total loss, that was some of the best wine vinegar I’ve ever used in cooking… but jeez louise, you don’t need 20 gallons of the stuff!

What happened? In spite of our best efforts, some unhelpful bacteria got in the batch and turned it sour. How can you avoid this? It’s not a guarantee… but the majority of the time, if you make sure you sanitize your equipment before fermenting, you’ll do just fine.

Vinegar Isn’t All Bad

Vinegar plays some important roles in cooking and preserving food. We wouldn’t have pickles, for one thing, or a nice vinaigrette for salad without vinegar. To see how many different kinds of vinegar there are and see some of the ways they’re used, check out this page from Food Network’s encyclopedia.

When fermenting wine, cider, or beer, vinegar isn’t your friend. In this article, I’ll show you three easy ways to sanitize your equipment and keep bacteria at bay.

Boiling

This may not be a good idea with plastics, not all of them are formulated to withstand high heat. If you don’t have any sanitizing chemicals handy, boil your glassware. This will work for almost all of your equipment except the carboys. Simply put your bottles or other equipment in a large pot, with about an inch of water covering, and bring to a hard boil. Boil for 2 minutes, remove from the heat, and let cool. Rinse well. You’re done.

If you have a dishwasher, run your glass or plastic ware through a short wash and dry cycle without detergent. This does a great job.

Bleach

Plain, unscented bleach is a good chemical sanitizer you can use with both glassware or plastic. If it’s bottles, submerge them in a large container of cold water with about 1 tablespoon (1 capful) of bleach per gallon of water. Set your timer for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse well. If you can put your nose to the bottle top and sniff without smelling bleach, it’s rinsed well enough. Don’t sanitize for more than 15 minutes, as bleach is caustic, it’s not good to expose the glass or plastic to it for a long time even at low concentrations.

Commercial Sanitizers

There are a number of good products that can help you. One well-known sanitizer is Star-San, available at Amazon.com and other retailers.

You can also use Campden (sodium metabisulfate) tablets for sanitizing purposes. Generally, 1 tablet per gallon will give you the needed concentration. Simply crush the tablets and put them in the water. My preference is to pulverize with a mortar and pestle instead of crushing because it reduces the tablet to powder that will dissolve into the water faster.

The Important Thing: Sanitize!

The bottom line is, however you choose to do it, sanitizing your fermentation equipment before you start will set you up for good results almost every time. Since making wine, beer, or cider does involve cost, it only makes sense that you do your best to not let anything go to waste.

How to Disinfect Winemaking Equipment was originally published in Simple Wine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This article has affiliate links to products sold on Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Want to save some money and have a decent, basic wine at the same time? In this post, I’ll show you how to make a gallon of basic “country wine” in about 2 weeks. Read on for more!

Simple Wine Is Easy

Simple wine is just that: simple. In a short amount of time, you can make a no-frills wine that is a nice addition to a meal, or a relaxing beverage at the end of the day. All you need for this wine is grape juice concentrate or bottled grape juice, sugar, yeast, and water.

Trust me: This is so easy, you’ll wonder why you’ve never done this before. If you’ve never made wine and aren’t feeling up to something a little more involved, give this a try. You’ll like it.

Step One: Get Ready

This is what you need:

One, 1-gallon glass jug with fermentation lock. At one time, these jugs were a dime a dozen because apple juice and other fruit juices were sold in them. Since plastics have taken over, you can still find them, but they’re more likely to be in your local natural groceries store than the supermarket.

If you have one laying around, all you’ll need is the fermentation lock. If you need these two items, you can click here to purchase this jug-fermentation lock package at Amazon.com. If you only need a fermentation lock, click here to go to Amazon.

For the juice, either use enough frozen grape juice concentrate to get a gallon of reconstituted juice, or bottled juice, made from concentrate. If there’s a brand of concentrate you like go with that. I’m partial to Welch’s myself, but there are other good options out there (Walmart’s Great Value 100% Grape Juice works very well).

The important thing for the juice is, no preservatives! Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or citric acid are OK. If you see something like potassium metabisulfite, avoid the juice, it’ll kill your yeast and fermentation will not occur.

One to two cups of plain granulated sugar, again, go with the brand you like. Remember, we’re focusing on “nothing fancy”for this recipe.

1 packet of yeast. Wine yeast is best, because it has a tolerance for alcohol that regular bread yeast does not, but bread yeast will work in a pinch.

I strongly recommend Lalvin’s Bourgovin RC-212 yeast for red grape wine because it makes a smooth wine with a nicely fruity flavor. You can find it here on Amazon.com.

Another wine yeast I’ve had good results with is Lalvin’s KIV-1116 yeast, which produces a nicely tart wine behind once the fermentation is done.

One thing to keep in mind, while you can use bread yeast for making wine, it does not have the alcohol tolerance of the yeasts specifically made for vinting, so your wine won’t have a significant ABV (alcohol by volume) and may not finish fermenting.

Step Two: Get It In the Jug

• Start the yeast with a half teaspoon sugar in a half cup of warm water. While waiting for the yeast to bubble…
• Empty half of the cans of grape juice concentrate into the jug OR pour about 1/2 gallon juice into the jug. (Use a funnel, it’ll just make life easier).
• Put 1 cup of sugar in the jug
• If you’re working with concentrate, fill the jug about half-full with cool water, cover the opening, and shake hard to aerate the mix. If you want a higher alcohol content, add another cup of sugar after aeration. Otherwise, go ahead and shake it up.
• When the yeast has activated (it’ll be all frothy and bubbly), add to the water/juice/sugar mix
• Add water to the jug until the level is about 1 inch below the neck
• Install the fermentation lock, and put the jug in a place where the the temperature is moderate and doesn’t change a lot. Even your kitchen counter works fine so long as it’s not in direct sunlight.
• Wait about 2 weeks, until the wine stops bubbling and the yeast settles to the bottom of the jug.

Step Three: Bottle and Enjoy

Carefully move the jug to a place where you can transfer the wine into a large mixing bowl. I recommend siphoning the wine over with food-grade tubing instead of pouring. The reason for this is that, even if you pour carefully, you’ll still stir up the yeast and your wine might be a little “muddy.”

Now, pour the second can of grape juice concentrate into the mix and stir with a wooden spoon (won’t react with the wine) to incorporate. If you like your wine a little drier, use a half-can of concentrate. If you want it a little sweeter, mix some sugar in, tasting as you go to reach the degree of sweetness you like.

Finally, transfer the wine into bottles. I always have a few “growler” or swing-top bottles since they’re perfect for using over and over. Since you’re going to be drinking this fairly quickly, it’s a bother to go through the whole corking process. Really, it can be any sealable bottle. See this two-pack of 32oz growlers at Amazon.com.

That’s it! Enjoy!

You can use almost any kind of juice for this recipe, so feel free to experiment. One thing to remember is, when you add the second can of concentrate, you’ll be adding sugar back in to the mix, which means fermentation will resume. So, refrigeration is a good idea… and plan on drinking within a few weeks so it doesn’t go to vinegar. Then, make some more!

Recipe for Easy Country Wine was originally published in Simple Wine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One of our local pizza places started selling a bacon-crust pizza a while back. Man, was it good! Caloric mayhem and pizza heaven all wrapped up in one package.

The good news is, if you’d like to make your own deep-dish bacon-wrapped pizza at home, from scratch, it’s pretty easy and will take you about 90 minutes from start to finish. Read on, and I’ll show you how it’s done.

Deep dish pizza is a Chicago-born style of pizza that’s been in existence for nearly 80 years. The difference between a “regular” pizza and deep dish is the crust: a deep-dish pizza’s crust forms a dish that can be 1 to 2 inches deep and holds a lot more sauce and other goodies.

I use a 15" cast iron skillet when making deep-dish pizza. It’s deep enough that the pizza and its fillings will stay inside, and you get the great, evenly-cooked results that cast-iron delivers. When the crust is stretched out in the pan to form the dish, here’s what it looks like:

The dough is about 1/2" below the top edge of the pan, and on average is 1/4" thick or less. Want to make this? Here we go!

Ingredients for Bacon-Wrapped Pizza

• One recipe of fresh-made pizza dough. I make it in my bread machine using Tom Lacalamita’s recipe in his book, The All New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook. It’s been out for several years, and you can get a copy at Amazon very cheaply.
• For the pizza dough: bread flour, yeast, water.
• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• 1–8oz (2 cups) bag of shredded “pizza cheese”
• 1–8oz (2 cups) bag of “Italian blend” cheese
• 1–15oz can of pizza sauce. My favorite is Dei Fratelli’s recipe.
• 1–15oz can of diced tomatoes in olive oil, with garlic and Italian spices. Drain before using!
• 8oz fresh, sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
• One-half pound of sliced bacon (thick, thin, it’s up to you)

You’ll also need:

• A pastry brush
• A large, deep pan for the pizza
• 1 or 2 spatulas (I like the wooden ones — like these bamboo spatulas).

How to Make the Pizza

1. Prepare the pan by brushing its interior with olive oil.

2. Place the dough in the pan and begin stretching it out by gently pushing from the center to the outside. Try to keep the thickness even across the dough.

From time to time, turn the dough over so both sides have been worked.

Once the dough covers the bottom of the pan, begin working it up the sides until you have a dish that’s 1 to 2 inches deep.

Take a fork and gently pierce the dough. Then, brush the dough down with more olive oil. The pierced crust will absorb oil and sauce — very tasty!

3. Wrap the crust with the bacon by carefully placing slices of bacon between the pan wall and the crust.

4. Spread the diced tomatoes over the bottom of the pan, followed by a layer of cheese, and then mushrooms.

5. Spread the pizza sauce over top, then add the put the final layer of cheese on top.

6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 375° F or the crust is golden-brown and the sauces and cheese are bubbling. Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Then, gently ease the pizza out of the pan to a cutting board, and slice as desired.

Variations to Try

• Leave out the bacon and you’ll have a great vegetarian pizza; try layering more than one vegetable into the mix — zucchini, eggplant, whatever sounds good to you!
• Instead of shredded cheese on the bottom, try covering the bottom with cheese slices. Muenster is a great cheese to include in pizzas because of its rich, creamy texture.
• Experiment with different sauces: alfred, pesto… you name it.

Bacon Wrapped Cheese and Mushroom Pizza was originally published in Simple Food on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There is nothing better than freshly-baked bread — especially bread from your own oven. When you break or cut it, there’s a burst of fresh bread scent you don’t get from a bag; eat right away and it melts in your mouth. If you’re willing to forgo the convenience of grabbing a loaf of cheap bread at the store or paying extra for “artisan bread” from a specialty shop, you’ll find that making your own bread isn’t that hard — and is very satisfying. In this article, I’ll show you how.

One of the best kitchen innovations of the last 40 years other than the food processor is the bread machine. If you want it to do everything, you can dump your ingredients in, set the timer, and walk away. You’ll have a loaf of nice, fresh bread in a couple hours or so.

If you like making bread but would rather skip the mixing and kneading, bread machines are the perfect partner. They make the dough, you shape it into whatever you want and then bake. It’s the best of both worlds. I’ve had my faithful Breadman Ultimate TR2200C for over 10 years and it’s still running like a champ. When it finally does go to the big bakery in the sky, I’ll be looking for another one from Breadman. The current-generation Breadman BR2500BC or Breadman BK1050S are at the top of my list, as they have the feature set that I’m using now with a couple of additions.

Other than my bread machine, a resource on my kitchen bookshelf that has become indispensable is my copy of the 1999 edition of Tom Lacalamita’s The All-New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook. The book has 101 recipes that run the gamut from very basic white bread to pizza dough and rolls to more-involved ethnic breads.

The book has been reprinted several times; it’s available both new and used at Amazon. If you don’t mind a used book, a copy can be had from Amazon for very little. If you’re into making bread or thinking about getting started, this is money very well spent.

To show you how easy it is to make great bread for about the same price as a loaf of cheap bread from the store, here’s a run-through of the “Basic European White Bread”from the book.

Basic European White Bread

Source: “The All-New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook,” by Tom Lacalamita (Fireside, 1999), page 113.

This is for 2 pounds of dough. Wet ingredients first, then dry.

• 1 1/3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons medium rye flour
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon dry yeast

If you’re going to let the bread machine do the baking, select a basic cycle, or French bread cycle.

If you want to shape the dough and bake it yourself, select the dough cycle, start the bread machine and read on…

You’ll have about 90 minutes to fill. During this time, you can prepare your loaf pans and have your counter-top ready. I use a large cutting board, well-floured, to work with the dough. I’ve had a pair of USA Bakeware 1-pound loaf pans for years and love them. Very durable, and no non-stick to flake off and get in the food.

To prepare the loaf pans for use, spray them with olive oil (I use a Misto) or another type of non-stick spray. Then, toss about 1/4 cup of bread flour in the pans to coat. When you’re done, they’ll look something like this:

When the dough cycle is done, punch the dough down and remove it from the bread machine to the floured cutting board or counter top. Divide the dough into two even halves. Using a long rolling pin, gently roll the dough out until it’s just a little shorter than the length of the loaf pan. Fold in half, tuck the ends, and fold once more. Then, put the dough into the pans:

Place the pans in a draft-free location, and cover with a cloth towel. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, placing a rack in the center position. When the dough has approximately doubled in bulk (probably about an hour), place the pans in the center of the oven rack. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until golden brown. If you’re using a dark-colored pan, or your oven tends to run hot, keep watch to be sure that your bread doesn’t burn on the outside and half-bake on the inside. Since my oven tends to run hot, I generally drop the recommended temperature by 25 degrees and the baking time by a few minutes. Experiment to find out what’s best for your oven.

Once done, remove the loaves from the oven and place on a cooling rack. If you like, lightly spritz the crust with olive oil or rub butter on it:

As a variation to using the loaf pans, you could also roll the dough into baguettes, or use a Banneton basket to create something different. Bread dough is very versatile, so experiment and have fun.

Enjoy your bread!

Daily Bread Made Easy was originally published in Simple Food on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This article has affiliate links to products sold on Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Apple Pie Cyser is one of my most popular recipes. While I have a set recipe, each batch is a little different. Sometimes a tweak sounds like a good idea… and it is… a goof that turned out really well. Other times, not so much.

So let me tell you about a time things went pretty well.

Follow the Recipe… Sort of

So a couple years ago, I used my base recipe for Apple Pie Cyser (click here to read it), but decided to mess with the flavor a bit by adding raisins. This was intended to do two things: add a little “something” to the flavor, and boost the yeast with extra nutrients. I also adjusted the back-sweetening mix after primary fermentation.

How Many Raisins Are Too Many?

I turned to a well-known resource: The world-famous Joe Mattioli’s Ancient Orange and Spice Mead recipe. Joe includes a handful of raisins (around 25 raisins for the 1-gallon recipe) to assist with the fermentation. If you’re looking for a fast, easy mead, this recipe rocks. It’s so good right out of primary fermentation it’s hard to leave alone so it can age — and you can be drinking it a month or so after you start it if you like.

Using Joe’s “raisin ratio” as a base — 25 raisins per gallon — I added about 1 cup of raisins (somewhere north of 100 raisins) to my 6-gallon batch. I also wanted to see if I could reduce the sweetness of the original recipe and get a little more “bite,” so I switched from Lalvin 71B-1122 Wine Yeast to Lalvin’s KIV-1116 Yeast for Winemaking, which emphasizes the “fruity” flavors in white wines.

Finally, because you can never get too spicy (heh), I doubled the cinnamon sticks to 6, and used about 5 tablespoons of Apple Pie Spice instead of 1.

When primary fermentation was done and it was time for back-sweetening, I reduced the dark brown sugar by about 1/3 and added an extra 1/2 gallon of apple juice (not concentrate). Then came the OOPS!

OOPS! (Happy Accident)

For back-sweetening, I include 2 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate per 3 gallons. It boosts the apple flavor in the mix, and provides extra sweetness.

This year… I wasn’t paying attention: I thought I was adding plain apple juice concentrate. After I’d blithely added the concentrate, I discovered I had added Apple-Strawberry-Kiwi!

Needless to say, this led to some worried moments as I waited for the secondary fermentation and clearing to occur. I can easily see strawberry in apple cyser… but kiwi!?! Did I turn 6 gallons of manly cyser into a girly drink?

Oh me of little faith. I shouldn’t have worried so much. Some of the best things have happened because of mistakes. For example, the iconic Slinky toy was invented when a clumsy engineer dropped a spring he was working on.

So a month or so later, I carefully did the first taste test — and, dang, that was good! The strawberry and kiwi flavors meshed with the raisin flavor in an awesome way.

Another month in secondary fermentation, and I was really happy with the results. Long story short, this one went in my recipe notes for future use.

Lesson: Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment (Within Reason)

The lesson I take away from this is, when things don’t happen the “right” way, good things can still come forth — and to remember not to be afraid to experiment a little.

Oh, and write down what you do. It really sucks to come up with something awesome and not be able to recreate it.

Originally published on my blog, russwhaley.com (no longer active)

Bottling Wine and Happy Accidents was originally published in Simple Wine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Simple syrup is something that’s around us all the time, and unless you’re looking, you might not have realized just how extensively it’s used in our daily food and drink. Have you ever purchased canned fruit? If it was in light or heavy syrup… you were dealing with simple syrup. Simple syrup is used by bartenders for mixed drinks, it’s used for preserving fruit (and more).

My inspiration for writing this for you comes from a recent trip to the grocery store. In the aisle with the soda pop and drink mixers, I found a 12.5 ounce bottle of simple syrup priced at $3.89. That’s really expensive sugar water, even when it’s made from “real cane sugar!”

Simple syrup is very easy to make. The only difference between what you make and what you buy in the store is that the commercial stuff has preservatives to keep it ‘fresh’ longer. So, if you make a little at a time as you need it, there’s no need for anything other than sugar, water, and any flavorings you add.

How easy is simple syrup to make? Insanely easy. In the interests of simple living and saving you some money… in this post, I’ll teach you about making simple syrup, and then provide three recipes that use simple syrup.

What Is Simple Syrup?

Simple syrup is just that…. simple. For most uses, you’ll combine 2 cups of sugar with 1 cup of boiling water. Bring the water to a boil and take it off the heat. Add the sugar, and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved into the water. Let it cool.

It really is that… simple!

Three easy things to make using simple syrup:

Pancake Syrup

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon (or to taste) maple extract or flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) vanilla extract or flavoring

For general-use pancake syrup, this rocks! I’m biased, this is what I grew up with — we occasionally purchased fruit syrups made by Smuckers, but for the most part, it was a brown-sugar-maple syrup that sometimes included a touch of vanilla. We used an imitation maple flavoring called Mapleine. I also like Watkins Imitation Maple Extract very much.

Make Your Own (Torani-inspired) Coffee Flavorings

One of the most popular coffee “add-ons” are the syrups sold by Torani. They even make a pumpkin pie flavor which I haven’t tried, but it’s on my list.

To make your own simple syrup-based coffee flavorings, all you need is to make simple syrup (make it with white sugar), and add extract(s) to taste. You can experiment with different flavor combinations and come up with your own signature flavor.

Fruit Syrups and Cordials

There are two parts to the process: Make the syrup, incorporating the juices from fruit or berries.

To Start:

1. Get a 1- quart jar (I like the wide-mouth mason jars you use for canning — see a 12-pack of Kerr jars here)
2. Fill up the jar with berries or fruit and mash well with a wooden spoon or the pestle from a food press to release the juices

If Making Fruit Syrup:

1. Fill the jar with enough simple syrup to cover the fruit you’ve mashed. If you are uncertain about the ratio of fruit to syrup, experiment by tasting until you get the kind of sweetness you like.
2. Seal the jar and put it into a cool, dark cupboard for 2 to 3 weeks.
3. After aging, pour the jar’s contents through a fine mesh strainer that is fine enough to catch all of the fruit particles but let the syrup through. Cheesecloth could be a good option here if you don’t have a metal or plastic strainer with a fine enough mesh for the job. Drain into a bowl large enough to hold the syrup.
4. Transfer to a jar or bottle and enjoy. Please note: As the syrup has no preservatives, it will have a limited shelf life. Refrigerate, and try to use in 1 month or less.

If Making Cordials

1. Mash the fruit up in the jar as above, and then fill the jar with a mixture of simple syrup and brandy, whisky, vodka, or other liquor that pairs well with the berries or fruit you’re using. Do some experimenting to find a mix of syrup and alcohol you like, and pair the liquor with a fruit that goes with it. For example, brandy goes well with many fruits and berries. As with much in this world, it’s up to your taste and sense of adventure to decide what to do. Keep in mind that with alcohol, you get what you pay for. This is not the time to cheap out and get a gallon of “Grandpa’s Old Overshoe” whisky!
2. Complete your mix, making sure the syrup-alcohol mixture covers the fruit. Cover tightly and store in a reasonably-cool closet or cupboard for a month.

After aging, strain the liquor into a bowl using a fine-mesh strainer (or something like cheesecloth) that will catch all of the fruit fragments but let the syrup/liquor through. Transfer to a jar or nice bottle.

While it will be ready to drink, if you store it in a cool, dark place and let it age for a few months, it will be even better.

Bonus: Don’t let the the left-over fruit go to waste! It’s great used as a topping for ice cream, or spread on toast.

That’s all there is to it! If you’ve never made your own syrup, or cordials take an hour or two this weekend and give it a try. I think you’ll like the results!

Three Uses For Simple Syrup was originally published in Simple Food on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.