Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
Mash or grind the grapes.
Combine the mashed grapes with water in a container.
Let the mixture stand for 3 days, stirring each day.
Ferment and bottle
On the third day, strain the mixture and add sugar.
Allow it to stand until fermentation stops, then bottle.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 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
- Grapes
- Provide the juice and natural yeasts that start fermentation, and the flavor of the wine.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
- Water
- Dilutes the grape juice to balance sweetness and acidity while fermenting.
The step that matters
Letting fermentation stop before bottling. Bottling before fermentation has finished can trap carbon dioxide, so bottles may build pressure and burst. Waiting until bubbling has ceased helps the wine stay stable.
“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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