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 ripe elder berries and place the berries in a pot.
Add 1 gallon of water to the pot and boil until the berries are soft.
Strain the berries from the liquid and press the berries until dry.
Return the liquid to the pot and add 4 pounds of sugar to the liquid.
Boil for 1 hour and skim off any scum.
Transfer the liquid to a tub and let the liquid cool slightly.
Ferment
Toast a slice of bread and spread yeast on both sides of the toast.
Add the toasted bread to the liquid and let the mixture sit for 2 nights.
Transfer the mixture to a cask.
Add cloves and ginger in a muslin bag to the cask and seal the cask.
Allow air to enter until bubbling stops.
Age and finish
After 12 months, if sweetness remains, let it sit longer.
Once cold and fermentation is complete, add 1 gallon of brandy and stir well.
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.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast to produce alcohol and adds sweetness to the finished wine.
- Yeast (in the method)
- Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content and stabilises the finished wine.
The step that matters
Allow air to enter until bubbling stops. Fermentation must finish before brandy is added, because adding spirit too early halts yeast activity and can leave the wine sweet and unstable.
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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