Making wine from Suriname Cherries at the Savannah

By early February 2012 the Suriname Cherries were in abundance at the Savannah, and while some friends were given some whole fruit which when totally ripe they are a dark red and very sweet, there was a dilemma as to what to do about the volume of cherries that were falling. And then I decided to make Suriname Cherry Wine.

In 2000-2001 I was the project manager for the Business Development and Training project funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank and one of the components included the development of small and micro businesses. Among the training delivered in wine making in Crooked Tree and Burrel Boom representatives Cariri of Trinidad. While I personally did not attend the training, the interest was always there, and with the assistance of information gathered on the internet I began. The process is outlined in the photographs presented for the benefit of the reader.

By March 5th the preliminary wine-making was completed with the wine tasting following. Pics are as follows:

1. Cherry Tree in Blosom

2. Cherries on the Cherry Tree

3. Picking Cherries

4. One of many Cherry Tree Harvest

5. Washing of the Cherries

6. Suriname Cherries already washed.

7. Separating juice from the pulp

8. Preparing the sugar for the fermentation process

9. Wine making taking place in jars and with their home made air-lock