[Sca-cooks] Wine must???

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I purchased a small bottle of must for a comparatively large amount 
of money ($7 for somewhere between 8 and 12 oz. i don't recall now) 
for my Greco-Roman feast. I made must cookies that were quite tasty.

BUT

I tasted a small spoon of the stuff before adding it all to the cookie dough.

It was very sweet, didn't have any alcoholic zing and didn't taste 
wine-y. Basically the must i bought tasted like the liquid one gets 
from soaking raisins in water for a long time. It was a little bit 
more tasty than soaked raisin liquid, but once mixed into a dish, i 
don't think the difference would be significant. I might consider 
adding a few drops of balsamic vinegar to perk up the raisin juice 
and give it a more complex flavor, but the must wasn't vinegar-y 
either, although that's where i found it in the market - with the 
vinegars.

Next time i need to use must, i'm making my own out of soaked raisins.

Anahita

>I've been poking about, online, trying to find out some information
>about wine must.  I'd been under the impression (sort of) that it was a
>by-product of the initial pressing of wine grapes--made from the stuff
>left over? possibly high in sugars? From some of the online references,
>it seems to be somewhat concentrated and syrupy.  Even shows up as an
>ingredient in these greek cookies....Since it's very much the wrong
>season for wine grapes locally, and I'm not exactly a vintner anyway,
>I'm casting about looking for an acceptable substitute for my recipe
>(mustard).
>
>Would I be better off trying to smash some table grapes (if I can find
>any imports), and cook those down? or use a bottle of 100% red grape
>juice, and cook that down? or a bottle of wine (reduced to a syrupy
>state)? I'm not sure if I'm after a more-pronounce grapey flavor (if you
>know what I mean), or a winey flavor.  Heck, dunno if the must was even
>fermented!
>
>Any assistance would be much appreciated!
>
>--maire, who really wouldn't know a good vintage if it up and bit her....