Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the must
Combine currant juice and water in a large container.
Add 3 pounds of brown sugar for every gallon of the mixture.
Pour water over the skins and seeds that have been squeezed, then strain this mixture.
Measure the strained liquid and add it to the currant juice.
Ferment
Do not fill the barrel completely; leave the bung out until fermentation stops.
Cover the opening with a piece of net to keep out flies.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currant juice
- Provides the fruit flavour and acidity the finished wine is built on.
- Brown sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and some sweetness.
The step that matters
Leave the barrel not full, with the bung out. Active fermentation releases carbon dioxide and can foam over or burst a sealed or overfilled barrel. Leaving headspace and the bung out lets the gas escape while the net keeps out insects.
“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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