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Rhubarb Wine

A fermented beverage made from rhubarb, water, lemon, sugar, and isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Rhubarb Wine

Why it works: Rhubarb and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 546 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Rhubarb Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the must

  1. Combine the cut rhubarb and water in a container and let it sit for one week, stirring daily.

  2. Strain the mixture and add the juice of two lemons and four pounds of sugar.

  3. Let it sit until the next day.

Age the wine

  1. Transfer the mixture into a barrel.

  2. After four days, add a small amount of isinglass and seal the barrel.

  3. Allow the wine to age in the barrel for five months.

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. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour and the fruit base that the wine is made from.
Sugar
Feeds the fermentation and provides sweetness that balances the tartness.
Lemons
Add acidity that brightens the flavour and helps keep the wine fresh.
Isinglass
A fining agent that helps clarify the wine by settling out suspended particles.

The step that matters

Sealing the barrel after adding isinglass. Isinglass clears the wine only if it is added at the right point and the wine is left undisturbed to settle. Moving or opening the barrel during this time can stir up sediment and cloud the wine.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar. 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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