Why it works: Potato and ginger work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 992 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Home-made Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the starter
If you have no sweet old yeast, make a thin batter of flour and water and let it stand in a warm place until fermented.
Boil hops for half an hour in two quarts of water.
Peel, boil, and mash potatoes very finely.
Strain hop-water through a fine strainer and mix with mashed potatoes, sugar, ginger, and salt.
Ferment and bottle
When the mixture is blood-warm, stir in a cupful of sweet yeast or a cake of compressed yeast dissolved in warm water.
Keep covered in a warm room for five or six hours until sufficiently effervesced.
While it is getting light, give it a good beating several times.
Pour into sweet glass jars, cork tight, and keep in a cool cellar or place.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Ginger | 1 tsp grated fresh (2g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Hop | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Potato + gingertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together992 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Hops + gingertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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
- Potatoes
- Provide starch that feeds the yeast and gives the yeast its body.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast so it ferments and produces gas.
- Hops
- Add bitterness and aroma and help preserve the liquid.
- Sweet yeast
- Starts the fermentation that makes the mixture rise and effervesce.
The step that matters
Adding the yeast while the mixture is blood-warm. If the mixture is too hot, it can kill the yeast; if it is too cold, fermentation is slow and weak. Blood-warm is a gentle temperature that lets the yeast activate steadily.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, sugar, ginger):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against hops, sugar, ginger. 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.
More homemade yeast recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.