This Weird Ingredient Will Make Your Baked Goods Taste Like Wine

Raise your nearest glass, because I have some good news to share: Wine flour exists. Keep a spot in your pantry reserved for a few bags of it because you're going to want to keep it as stocked as your wine rack. If you're wondering what wine flour is, besides your new favorite experimental ingredient, it's a supplemental and nutritious flour that can be used in both your baking and cooking recipes. And it comes in multiple variations in case you're partial to one type of wine over another.

What sounds like an item contestants would find in a mystery box on Food Network's Chopped can now be your standard pantry pal — if not for that wine grape taste, for the hue it contributes to your picture perfect meals. Instagram is flooded with sweet potato pies that are purple instead of orange. A unique shade of an ordinary dish will pique interest in your audience — digitally and those lucky enough to be in close proximity of your stove top.

With an elevated flavor being contributed to your dishes thanks to wine grapes like our familiar friend Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer, your home chef status will be taken to the next level. A new, creative way to marry wine and food? That's something to cheers to.

Another reason to keep your wine glass raised in the air? Hilary Niver-Johnson's Finger Lake's Wine Flour produces no waste. Zero. After the grapes are crushed for their juice, the seeds and skins are then transported to be milled into flour. Benefiting not only the environment, our wine inclined tastebuds, but also our vital organs. Yes. We might read and re-read the information that a glass of red wine an evening is ~good for your health~ to make that third glass feel more like a wellness indulgence, but these flours are packed with vitamins. The Sustainable Viticulture Systems website claims that wine flour is a, "natural source of antioxidants and polyphenols." Adding on to the wellness aspect of wine flour, the website iterates that, "additional vitamins and minerals found in our flours are calcium, magnesium and potassium." Cheers, again!

There is a selection of wine grape flours you can browse, just as you would your local liquor store. If you're whipping up a batch of cookies for the office party, the Riesling flour is suggested to assist in naturally sweetening the mix. With the Riesling flour you'll experience hints of ~green apples and honeysuckle~ which will not only compliment an old recipe but also your baking abilities. While the unique wine flours have their individual tasting notes, I suspect the broad notes that hit the tongue first will be ~gratitude~ and ~happiness~.

Now every hour of the day can be appropriate for wine. In some variation of the grape that lends us our happy hour juice. When you invite your friends over for a baking party or a dinner party you can now add more wine to the menu. Just note that these flours aren't one hundred percent interchangeable with your all-purpose or whole wheat flours. Because of their ability to absorb more water than usual, you'll have to adjust recipes accordingly to get that purple tinted wine flour flair.

If you're stuck in a wine flavored food inspiration rut, the possibilities to enjoy wine flour in many dishes are presented before you. There's a library of recipes to spike your imagination from "Red Velvet Cabernet Cookies" to "Riesling Broccoli Cheddar Dip." Basically anything that already calls for flour can be given a grape upgrade. Sweet or savory, wine is a flexible pairing product. With wine grapes now featured in milled form, every hour of the day can be happy hour. Cheers — I mean, bon appetit — I mean, both?