Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Bruise the rhubarb and cover it with boiled and cooled water.
Let it soak for a week, stirring occasionally.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag and measure the juice.
Sweeten and bottle
For every gallon of juice, add 2 pounds of powdered sugar.
Bottle loosely when the sugar is dissolved.
If it does not ferment anymore, cork tightly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the juice that becomes the wine.
- Powdered sugar
- Supplies the sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The step that matters
Bottle loosely when the sugar is dissolved. While fermentation is active it releases carbon dioxide, which can build pressure and break sealed bottles. Leaving them loosely closed lets gas escape until fermentation slows, and only then is it safe to cork tightly.
“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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