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Rhubarb Wine

A fermented beverage made with rhubarb, cardamom, ginger, spirit, and white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Rhubarb Wine

Why it works: Cardamom and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,114 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Rhubarb Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Combine the sliced rhubarb, cardamom seeds, ginger, and spirit in a container.

  2. Let the mixture digest for three days.

Ferment

  1. After three days, add 2 gallons of white wine to the mixture.

  2. Stir well and allow to ferment.

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.

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.

  1. Cardamom + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Rhubarb + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Rhubarb + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Ginger + spirittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Rhubarb + spirittop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Adds tart, acidic flavour that balances the wine's sweetness.
Spirit
Extracts flavour compounds from the fruit and spices and adds alcohol.
Cardamom seeds
Contribute a fragrant, floral aroma.
Ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma and a slight bite.
White wine
Forms the main liquid and the base that ferments.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cardamom, ginger, spirit, white wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cardamom, ginger, spirit, white wine. 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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