Name: Red Gooseberry Wine
Ingredients: 20 gallons cold water; 20 gallons bruised fruit; 35 pounds raw sugar; 4 pounds sliced red beet; 6 ounces dissolved red tartar; 2 gallons good spirit; ½ ounce bruised ginger; 3 ounces bruised cloves

Why it works: Ginger and clove 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 ↓

Red Gooseberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Ferment

Combine cold water and bruised fruit in a large vessel.
Add raw sugar and allow to ferment.

Add flavourings

Once fermented, mix in sliced red beet and dissolved red tartar.
Stir in good spirit, bruised ginger, and bruised cloves.
For a cheaper wine, add more water.

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.

Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Spirit + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together88 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Spirit + clovetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together14,054 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + spirittop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

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

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

Fruit: Provides the main flavour and the sugars that the fermentation works on.
Raw sugar: Feeds the fermentation and becomes alcohol, giving the wine its body.
Red tartar: Adds acidity, giving the wine a sharp, tart edge.
Red beet: Contributes colour and an earthy note to the wine.
Good spirit: Raises the alcohol content, which helps preserve the wine.