Jeropiga is the name given to a traditional alcoholic drink of Portuguese origin that is prepared by adding aguardente to grape must. [1] [2] The addition is made in the beginning of the fermentation process, making it different to another Portuguese traditional drink, the abafado, in which aguardente is added during the fermentation process. [1]
Preparation
The usual given ratios for the confection of jeropiga are of two parts of must to one part of aguardente or brandy. [3] [4] The must's natural fermentation process is interrupted by the addition of the alcohol. [5] [6]
Jeropiga traditionally accompanies the magosto autumn festivals, [7] celebrated also in northern Spain and Catalonia, where the festival is known as Castanyada. Jeropiga is home-brewed and drunk throughout the year in Trás-os-Montes and the Beira regions in Central Portugal.
Historic use in fortified wines
Historically, jeropiga has been added to Port wine to increase its sweetness, [8] [9] in a practise that is still applied today to some fortified wines. [5] The historic use of jeropiga mixed with brandy and elderberries as a means of coloring in red wines has also been recorded. [8] Nineteenth-century English writers largely dismissed jeropiga when discussing the port wine trade, with W. H. Bidwell calling it an "adulteration used to bringing up the character of ports". [3] In 1844, the English wine merchant Joseph James Forrester anonymously published A Word or Two on Port Wine, a pamphlet that, among other criticisms made to the wine trade in the Douro region, denounced the use of jeropiga in wine. [10]
References
- ^ a b "Decreto Lei n.º 326/88 - Capítulo III art. 18º" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 29 September 1988.
- ^ "Lei nº 7.678, de 8 de Novembro de 1988 - Capítulo IV art. 16º" (in Portuguese). Palácio do Planalto. 8 November 1988.
- ^ a b Agnew & Bidwell 1853, p. 62.
- ^ "São Martinho: How to make jeropiga at home?" (in Portuguese). Vortex Magazine. 7 November 2015.
- ^ a b Mayson 2018, p. 363.
- ^ Souza, Peixoto & de Toledo 1995, p. 177.
- ^ "Jeropiga" (in Portuguese). Direção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ a b Hassall 1876, p. 756.
- ^ Thudichum & Dupré 1872, p. 677.
- ^ Mayson 2018, pp. 30–32.
Sources
- Agnew, John Holmes; Bidwell, Walter Hilliard, eds. (1853). "Wine and Wine-Drinkers". The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art. 28. New York: W. H. Bidwell: 62 – via Google Books.
- Hassall, Arthur Hill (1876). "Wine and Its Adulterations". Food: Its Adulterations, and the Methods for Their Detection. University of Michigan. ISBN 978-1527864320 – via Google Books.
- Mayson, Richard (2018). Port and the Douro: Fourth Edition. Classic Wine Library. Infinite Ideas. ISBN 978-1999619381 – via Google Books.
- Souza, Julio Seabra Inglez; Peixoto, Aristeu Mendes; de Toledo, Francisco Ferraz (1995). "Jeropiga". Enciclopédia agrícola brasileira: I-M - Volume 4 (in Portuguese). University of São Paulo. ISBN 978-8531407192 – via Google Books.
- Thudichum, John Louis William; Dupré, August (1872). "Jeropiga". A Treatise on the Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine: Being a Complete Manual of Viticulture and Oenology. Cornell University Library. ISBN 978-1112369544 – via Google Books.
Further reading
- Castelo Branco, Camilo (1903). O vinho do Porto: processo de uma bestialidade ingleza: exposição a Thomaz Ribeiro (in Portuguese). Livraria Chardron. ISBN 9789897001925 – via Google Books.
- Cobb, B. Francis (1873). "Cantor Lectures: On Wines; their Production, Treatment, and Use". The Journal of the Society of Arts. 21 (1088). Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce: 843–858. JSTOR 41324102.
- Spencer, Edward (1903). "The Old Wines and the New". The Flowing Bowl: A Treatise on Drinks of All Kinds and of All Periods, Interspersed with Sundry Anecdotes and Reminiscences. Grant Richards – via The Project Gutenberg.