Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Elder Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Gather elder berries when fully ripe and place them in a large pot.
Add 1 gallon of water and boil until the berries are soft.
Strain and press the berries until dry.
Return the liquid to the pot.
Add 4 pounds of moist sugar.
Boil for 1 hour, skimming off any scum.
Ferment
Once cooled, toast a slice of bread.
Spread yeast on both sides of the toast and add it to the liquid.
Let it sit for 2 nights, then transfer to a suitable cask.
Bruise the cloves and ginger.
Place the bruised spices in a muslin bag.
Hang the muslin bag in the cask.
Allow air to enter until bubbling stops.
Seal the cask tightly.
Age and finish
Let it age for 12 months.
If it is too sweet, let it age longer.
When cold and fermentation is complete, stir in 1 gallon of brandy.
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.
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Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + brandytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,362 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Bread + brandytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together976 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Clove + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,129 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
- Elder berries
- Provide the main flavour and colour of the wine.
- Moist sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and body to the wine.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content and stabilises the finished wine.
The step that matters
Stir in the brandy only when cold and fermentation is complete. Adding spirit while fermentation is still active stops the yeast early and leaves the wine sweeter and less stable. Waiting ensures the sugar has been converted before the alcohol level is raised.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, bread, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, bread, brandy. 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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