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Drink

Orange Wine

A fermented beverage made from Seville orange juice, rinds, sugar, egg whites, and brandy, aged for six months.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Orange Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. In a large pot, combine 30 quarts of water and 40 pounds of lump sugar.

  2. Beat the whites of 6 eggs to a froth and mix them into the cold water.

  3. Boil the mixture for 30 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.

Combine and steep

  1. Place the rinds of 5 Seville oranges in a tub and pour the boiling mixture over them.

  2. Let it stand until completely cool, then add 10 quarts of Seville orange juice and 1 quart of brandy.

Age the wine

  1. Transfer the mixture to a cask, seal it tightly, and let it stand for 6 months.

  2. If the wine is too sweet, allow it to age longer.

  3. For a richer flavor, add citron syrup to taste.

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.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Lump sugar
Provides sweetness and the sugar that feeds fermentation, producing alcohol.
Whites of 6 eggs
Clarifies the liquid, as the proteins bind scum and particles that are skimmed off during boiling.
Seville orange juice
Supplies the main citrus flavour and acidity to the wine.
Seville orange rinds
Release aromatic oils and bitter flavour into the hot liquid as it steeps.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content, adding strength and preserving the wine.

The step that matters

Skimming while boiling. Egg whites coagulate as the mixture heats, trapping impurities that rise as scum. Skimming them off keeps the wine clear and free of off-flavours.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, brandy, syrup. 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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