Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Gooseberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sugar water
Boil the water with the sugar for 15 minutes, skimming well.
Let the mixture cool until almost cold.
Steep the fruit
Bruise the gooseberries in a marble mortar and add them to the vessel.
Pour the cooled sugar water into the vessel with the gooseberries.
Let it stand for 2 days, stirring every 4 hours.
Finish the wine
Soak the isinglass in the brandy for 2 days, then strain it into the wine.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and acidity, and sugar feeds the fermentation.
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and provides the sugar that yeast turns into alcohol.
- Isinglass
- Acts as a fining agent that gathers particles so the wine clears.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol content and helps preserve the finished wine.
The step that matters
Let the sugar water cool until almost cold. Hot liquid poured over the fruit can damage the yeast and flavours on its skin, and a cool mixture keeps the fermentation healthy.
“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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