To Make Gooseberry Wine

This recipe originates from early 18th-century England, attributed to Dorothy Stone around 1725. At the time, homemade fruit wines were a common and celebrated rural tradition, enabling households to preserve seasonal fruits and enjoy them in a different form over the lengthy winters. The recipe is a testament to the ingenuity and patience of early-modern English households. Wine-making was often a communal or domestic affair, celebrated by both gentry and country folk. Gooseberries were especially prized for their tartness and were readily available in cottage gardens. Recipes like this offer an evocative glimpse into the self-sufficient, seasonal eating habits of the period.

Back in the 1720s, the process would involve simple but sturdy tools: large earthenware or wooden tubs (firkins) for maceration and fermentation, strong wooden spoons or pestles for bruising the berries, muslin or coarse cloth for straining the juice, and glass bottles sealed with cork, wax, or sometimes bladder. A hearth or open fire would serve to boil water—and all steps were performed by hand. Today, home wine makers might use glass demijohns, food-safe plastic buckets, modern airlocks, and sanitized siphoning tubes, though the core method remains recognizable.