Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Ginger Beer
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pour two gallons of boiling water over two pounds brown sugar, one and a half ounce of cream of tartar, and the same amount of pounded ginger; stir well, and put it in a small cask.
Ferment and bottle
When the mixture is warm, add half a pint of good yeast, shake the cask well, and stop it closed.
In twenty-four hours it will be fit to bottle; cork it very well.
Sparkle and serve
In ten days it will sparkle like Champagne; add one or two lemon slices, and put them in, to improve it.
For economy, you may use molasses instead of sugar, one quart in place of two pounds.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Water | 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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,640 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Brown sugar
- Provides sweetness and the sugar that yeast ferments into carbon dioxide and alcohol.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar, producing the carbon dioxide that makes the drink fizzy.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity, giving the drink a tart, bright edge.
- Pounded ginger (in the method)
- Contributes the spicy aroma and flavor that define ginger beer.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and fresh citrus aroma to the finished drink.
The step that matters
Corking the bottles after 24 hours. Fermentation keeps producing carbon dioxide after bottling. If the bottles are not sealed tightly, the gas escapes and the drink stays flat, while a sealed bottle holds the gas that makes it sparkle.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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