Name: May Blossom Dry White Wine
Ingredients: 4.5 liters may blossom (white or pink); 1.1 kilo sugar; 2 oranges; 2 lemons; 1 teaspoon grape tannin powder; wine yeast; 1 teaspoon nutrient salts

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

May Blossom Dry White Wine

Time15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the liquid

Put the flowers in a muslin bag, submerge in 4 liters water, let simmer for 15 minutes, then squeeze the bag to extract all liquid.
Dissolve the sugar in the hot liquid, add the juice and zest of the oranges and lemons, cool to 21 °C, add tannin, wine yeast, and yeast nutrient, cover, stir daily, and keep warm to start fermentation.

Ferment and rack

After three days, strain into a jar, top to the shoulder with cool water, fit a bung and airlock, leave in a slightly cooler place for fermentation; rack after three months when sediment has formed, then put in a cooler place.
After another three months, rack again, add crushed Campden tablet, top up to the neck of the jar with water, and bottle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

665Calories

15 gProtein

2 gFat

143 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange + grapetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,771 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Grape + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together819 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-p-menthene-8-thiol (grapefruit).
Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,157 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Orange + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,046 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

May blossom: Provides the floral flavour and aroma that defines the wine.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast, which turns it into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Oranges and lemons: Add acidity and citrus aroma to balance the sweetness.
Grape tannin powder: Adds structure and a dry grip that helps the wine feel fuller.

The step that matters

Keeping the liquid cool before adding yeast. Adding yeast to liquid that is still hot can kill it, so the fermentation may never start. Cooling to 21 °C before adding tannin, yeast and nutrient protects the yeast and lets fermentation begin steadily.