Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Elderberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Strip ripe elderberries from their stalks and steep them in a tub of water for 5–6 days, pressing frequently.
Squeeze out the juice and strain it through a fine sieve into a boiling vessel.
Boil and ferment
Add 3 pounds of brown sugar for each gallon of juice, along with ½ pound of ginger, 2 ounces of cloves, and 1 ounce of allspice for every 4 gallons.
Boil the mixture for just over 30 minutes.
Pour the wine into a tub or open cask.
Add yeast on a piece of toast.
Cover the cask to ferment for 4–5 days.
Skim the wine and transfer it to a cask, keeping the vent‑peg loose until fermentation stops.
Rest and finish
Seal the cask tightly.
Let the wine rest for 2 months, or longer for better flavor.
Optionally, add 1 quart of brandy before sealing the barrel.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + brandytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,362 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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
- Elderberries (in the method)
- Provide the juice and the main flavor of the wine.
- Brown sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness and body to the wine.
- Yeast
- Converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
- Ginger
- Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavor to the wine.
- Cloves
- Contribute a strong warm, spicy aroma to the wine.
- Allspice
- Adds a warm, spiced aroma that blends with the ginger and cloves.
The step that matters
Keeping the vent-peg loose during fermentation. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide, which can build pressure and burst a sealed cask. Leaving the vent loose lets gas escape until fermentation stops, and sealing too early can cause the cask to break or the wine to spoil.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, allspice, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, allspice, brandy. 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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