Name (also prison wine) for a special "wine" that is produced in prisons in a primitive manner that is forbidden. In US penal institutions, such a brew is known as "Pruno". The inventor is unknown, but precise instructions came from Jarvis Jay Masters (*1962), sentenced to death for the murder of a guard in San Quentin prison in California. He wrote a poem describing his fate in prison and the pruno recipe. Masters was awarded the "PEN Award" for literature in 1992. He lived according to Buddhist precepts, became a philosopher and wrote the two books "Finding Peace: Writings from Death Row" and "The Bird Has My Wings".
There are various recipes, the ingredients (in technical language "kickers") are apples, oranges, canned fruit, stewed fruit, sugar, ketchup, milk and crushed bread. The "Masters recipe" named after the inventor: Ten peeled oranges, canned fruit and about 1/2 litre of water are put into a plastic bag. The bag is tied tightly, the contents kneaded into a paste and heated for 15 minutes under hot running water in the sink. The mixture is wrapped in a towel or socks and hidden (e.g. toilet cistern). After 48 hours, the bag is opened and 60 pieces of sugar cubes and six teaspoons of ketchup are added. Then hot water is poured over the porridge for 30 minutes. Every day it is heated for another 15 minutes. If necessary, the fermentation is stopped by adding vitamin C tablets. After three days, the pruno is ready and can be drunk after removing the pulp. Depending on the sugar content, the drink can reach the alcohol content of a light beer (3% vol) to even a strong wine (12-14% vol).
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi