HIVE

I brew cider & wine from the stuff I forage/grow myself, not much more complicated than that

And jams and what not if I have too much of something. Doesn't happen that often.

Wtf where do you even live I want your life.

The far north of Europe.

C'mon, man, tell me a tale! I've never thought about using (old?) fruit up like that; what is entailed? How is it done? How do *you* do it? What kinds are your favorite? What even *is* "cordial"? Are there non-alcoholic things you can make?

Etc etc etc. : )

I'm from the cold parts of the world, we don't use a whole lot of words unless we're angry or upset!

Anyway, what does brewing entail? If we disregard beer, a messy business which can take a couple of tries before you get it right, cider and wine is essentially just fruit, water (or any fruit juice) and sugar left to ferment. Either by itself - wild yeast - or helped along with the introduction of a cultivated wine or cider yeast strain (easier to control and reproduce a product this way).

And no, you shouldn't use "old" fruit, but really ripe fruit! For example, bananas. Bananas are a fantastic supplement in winemaking as it adds a lot of body and sugar to the wine. But you should use "overripe" bananas; think brown spots or almost entirely brown, slightly browner pulp and pulp sweeter than candy. But not rotten!

But should you use an old or near rotten apple in your apple cider/wine? No, not at all. It will ruin the entire batch. However, what you can do; simply freeze fruit as they're getting "worse" and use them in future recipes. Freezing fruit before you turn them into cider or wine is actually a good idea in general, as the ice crystals cause the cell walls to rupture. This in turns lets out more juice as the fruit thaws.

My favorite? I don't really like wine, there are some reds I enjoy, but that’s it. I still drink it if offered, but I prefer beer and cider. The only wine I have made, thus far, that I have enjoyed is apple wine and the oak leaf wine. Apple wine is easy is to make and can be made all year around and it tastes better than most commercial grape wines in my opinion. Plus, apple wine can be made from store bought juices and still be pretty damn good; all year around!

I’ve only made one small batch of oak leaf wine, but it was really interesting. Can’t really explain what it tastes like, but if all white wines tasted like oak leaf wine, I would be a fan.

And I guess banana wine gets an honorable mention. Really strange to taste fully ripe banana without any hint of sweetness.

Cordial? I guess most Americans and Brits would refer to it as a concentrate or “squash”. Don’t mind the Swedish, but here’s a quick instructional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjnPa9BEMQ
Usually made during the summer, akin to lemonade, I guess. Really damn sweet most of the time and is more or less an “old” way of preserving fruit and berries. And as shown in the video, you can make jam from the “spoils” as well.

Non-alcoholic stuff could be:
Jams, cordials, soda/soft drinks*, traditional** drinks such as svagdricka, kvass, gruit, gotlandsdricka and what not, candy and above all, pies. Pie is great. Everyone should eat pie.

*Yes, if you are hardcore enough. I have just dipped my toes into it and failed, but I might try it again.

**Often from specific cultures, fun to explore

Post scriptum
Not a story, but something?