organic, pure fruit purees or concentrates?

How much of it do you need?

not much for now, until i find what I'm looking for - about 4-6 pounds

Man, I think you are better off going to whole foods for that.

Check out Brewery suppliers. We use concentrated fruit syrups for some of the beer we make. Wether it's organic I'll have to find out from Matt.

mike9 said:

Check out Brewery suppliers. We use concentrated fruit syrups for some of the beer we make. Wether it's organic I'll have to find out from Matt.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

that's actually almost exactly what I want to use it for (wine and mead in particular), but some of the fruits I want to use have proven to be too cumbersome and messy for the process - bananas are an absolute nightmare! clogs up everything. Would take36 pounds of them just to get a gallon of pure must.

I've found a few companies, but some have sketchy ingredients, sketchy sources, or only deal in bulk

Speaking completely ignorantly, but isn't what clogs up with bananas mostly carbs (though perhaps fiber which is a carb as well)--what you want for fermentation?

the fibrous matter, yes - not the carbs (in the form of sugars), though.

I need to get to the sugars, acids and volatile compounds.

Once fermentation metabolizes the sugars, you transfer off the remaining sediment at the bottom, which will be the fibrous remnants of the fruit, and the dead yest. in fermenting wines, fruits and yeasts will compact at the bottom more or less efficiently when it is finished, and bananas in particular are notorious for leaving behind buoyant and fluffy sediment, making it hard to get a clean, clear wine without losing lots of product in the transfer process.

But I am not just interested in bananas - there's plenty of other fruits that just aren't available fresh here - or some, even if they are available, may not be of the greatest quality. Good quality (key term) frozen fruit, puree and concentrate/juice is harvested and processed at the optimal moment.

Thanks for the info.

Mash the bananas into pulp, and place into a large chinois, lined with a tight cheesecloth, with a weight on the mashed fruit. Place it in a cool, dark place, covered to keep out dust and critters, and let the juices seep through, as if you were making rice milk, or Greek yogurt. Let it sit at least 12 hours. Make sure it remains cold. You might also try freezing the mashed fruit, blending it into a smoothie, and then letting it thaw, and drip through a fine mesh strainer. In either case, the filtered liquid will contain the aromatics, and dissolved sugars, leaving the fiber behind. I haven't tried this with fruit. It works great for making nut, rice, and grain milks.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North