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Raisin Wine

A fermented beverage made by steeping Smyrna raisins in water, then aging and filtering.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Raisin Wine

Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raisin Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the must

  1. Remove large stalks from the raisins.

  2. Place raisins in a clean, sweet tub and pour water over them.

  3. Press the raisins down and cover the tub.

  4. Stir the mixture daily for four weeks.

  5. Strain the liquid and squeeze the raisins as dry as possible.

Age and bottle

  1. Transfer the wine to a cask and cover the bung-hole to keep out dust.

  2. When the hissing sound stops, seal the bung-hole tightly.

  3. Let the wine sit untouched for twelve months.

  4. After a year, draw the wine into a clean cask and filter the dregs through muslin.

  5. Seal it again and bottle the wine after three years, or after one year for a lighter flavor.

  6. If desired, add a bottle of brandy to the cask with the wine.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 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

Smyrna raisins
Provide the sugar and fruit flavor that ferment into the wine.
Water
Dissolves the raisin sugars and forms the liquid the yeast ferments.

The step that matters

Stirring the mixture daily for four weeks. Regular stirring keeps the pressed raisins wet and in contact with the liquid, helping the sugars and flavors extract evenly while air reaches the fermenting must.

“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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