Homemade Vino Cotto - Also known as Musto Cotto

Love What UEAT
Oct 13, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Apr 21

Desserts & Treats#vinocotto #mustocotto #applesause #homemadeapplesauce #applewineglaze #homemadewineglaze #vino #winetime #wine #winereduction #glazedwine #glazedapplewine #applewine

Vino cotto is a traditional Italian sweet reduced wine 🍷, that can also be made into syrup. Vino cotto is made with musto (which is un fermented wine juice).

In some regions of Italy 🇮🇹, vino cotto is called “musto cotto” which is technically correct. Musto is the wine juice that is squeezed out of the “torchio” (the wine press) and is essentially the first step in wine making. Musto becomes wine when the fermentation process starts activating.

Vino cotto is used as an ingredient in several traditional dishes, or as a sweetener often replacing honey 🍯.

Every region and family has its own version, and we want to share with you my father’s recipe. It’s very simple and easy to make with only 3 simple ingredients, musto, apples 🍎 and sugar. I’m so glad that I stood by my father’s side during my pre-teen and teenage years to help him make our yearly vino cotto. He was a very patient man and he took his time in teaching and explaining step by step this traditional ancient recipe.

Grazie Mille Papa ❤️❤️❤️

INGREDIENTS:

102 ozs. of musto (3 litres)

One dozen macintosh apples 🍎

1-2 cups of sugar (200g-400g)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Wash your apples. Core both ends with a pearing knife and place them in a large pot. Place the pot over a medium heat burner. Pour the musto over the apples and add ONE cup of sugar and place the cover ajar over the pot.

2) When the musto comes to a boil, lower the burner to low heat and let simmer for 3-3 1/2 hours. VERY IMPORTANT the cooking must be low and slow to properly evaporate the water from the musto (fresh grape juice).

3) At the halfway mark, taste the musto to check if the sweetness is to your liking.

The reason why we give it a taste text, it’s because we don’t know how much sweetness was released from the apples. If needed, now is the time to add the 2nd cup of sugar (or more).

4) When the apples are cooked (practically falling apart) remove them from the pot and place them in a heat proof bowl. Once the apples have completely cooled, we used to pass them through a food mill and made a few jars of delicious applesauce. Our parents taught us NEVER to waste anything !

NON SI BUTTA NULLA !!!

5) Continue to simmer the musto on low heat. If your are looking for a looser type of syrup, the musto should be reduced to about 1/2 of the initial musto amount.

6) KEEP IN MIND that once your remove the vino cotto off of the burner, it is still hot and becomes denser as it cools. If you over cooked it, the vino cotto will turn into a jelly like jam. Still delicious, but no longer vino cotto.

7) Pour the cooled vino cotto in GLASS bottles, NEVER IN PLASTIC BOTTLES. The bottles can be kept in the pantry for up to a year.

For a thicker syrup, the musto should be reduced to 1/3 of the initial juice amount.

DO NOT EXPOSE the bottles to the light. They must be stored in the dark.

And there you have it. My father’s recipe on how we made our homemade vino cotto.

We showed you both versions, a looser syrup and a denser syrup. With the cooked apples, we to made applesauce.

The vino cotto can be drizzled simply over a piece of bread, bread ricotta and vino cotto, Brie cheese, ice cream, over a slice of pound cake, and can be used as an ingredient in your baking recipes and so much more !