Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raisin Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
In a large tub, combine the spring water and fresh Smyrna raisins.
Stir the mixture thoroughly every day for a month.
After a month, press the raisins as dry as possible.
Age the wine
Transfer the liquid into a cask and wait for it to stop hissing.
Once hissing stops, add a bottle of the best brandy.
Seal the cask tightly and let it age for twelve months.
After twelve months, rack off the wine without the dregs.
Filter the wine through a flannel bag folded three or four times.
Add the filtered wine back to the cask and top off with 1 to 2 quarts of brandy, depending on the vessel size.
Seal the cask again and let it age for three years before bottling or drinking.
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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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh smyrna raisins
- Provide the sugar and flavor that ferment into the wine.
- Spring water
- Dilutes the raisin sugars and forms the bulk of the liquid for fermentation.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that stabilizes the wine and preserves it during long aging.
The step that matters
Wait for the hissing to stop before adding brandy. Hissing comes from ongoing fermentation releasing carbon dioxide. Adding brandy while fermentation is active can halt it unevenly and leave sugar or off-flavors, so the brandy goes in only once the activity has settled.
“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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