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Spruce Beer

A historical fermented drink flavoured with spruce essence, ginger, allspice, molasses and hops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Spruce Beer

Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brew

  1. Boil hops and sassafras root chippings in water.

  2. Strain the mixture and pour in hot.

  3. Add molasses, essence of spruce, powdered ginger, and pounded allspice.

  4. Transfer to a cask and let it cool.

Ferment and bottle

  1. Once cool, add yeast and stir well.

  2. Seal the cask and let it ferment until clear.

  3. Bottle and cork tightly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,508 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Hops + gingertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Hops + molassestop 41% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the molasses, producing carbonation and alcohol for the beer.
Molasses
Supplies the sugars that the yeast ferments, and adds dark sweetness and body.
Hops
Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the molasses.
Sassafras root chippings
Contributes the characteristic root flavour to the beer.

The step that matters

Add the yeast only after the brew has cooled. Yeast is killed by hot liquid, so adding it while the mixture is still hot can stop fermentation before it starts. Cooling first lets the yeast survive and begin converting sugars.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, molasses, ginger):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hops, molasses, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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