Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
Combine bruised grapes and water in a container.
Let it stand for six days without stirring.
Strain the mixture finely.
Add 3 lb of moist sugar for each gallon of liquid.
Ferment
Transfer to a cask but do not seal until fermentation is complete.
Allow to ferment for ten days, then seal tightly with a small vent.
Open the vent once a week for a month.
Rack and bottle
Fine and rack the wine in March.
Bottle it in October.
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.
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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- Provide the juice, sugars and natural yeasts that drive the fermentation.
- Moist sugar
- Feeds the yeast, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
- Water
- Dilutes the grape juice to a workable volume and sugar level for fermentation.
The step that matters
Leave the cask unsealed until fermentation is complete. Active fermentation releases carbon dioxide, which can build pressure and burst a sealed container. Keeping it loosely covered lets gas escape while the yeast works.
“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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