Name: Strawberry Wine
Ingredients: 3 gallons strawberries; 3 gallons water; 8 pounds lump sugar; 2 gallons cider; 1 ounce powdered red tartar; thin rind of 1 fresh lemon; optional: a little brandy

Why it works: Cider and brandy work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Strawberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the infusion

Bruise the strawberries and pour the water over them.
Let the mixture infuse for 24 hours.
Strain the liquid through a canvas bag.

Make the wine

Add the sugar, cider, powdered red tartar, and lemon rind to the strained liquid.
If desired, add a little brandy when transferring the wine to a cask.

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.

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.

Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together404 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,351 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cider + lemontop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together986 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Strawberries: Provide the main fruit flavour and aroma that the wine takes on during infusion.
Lump sugar: Adds sweetness and provides the sugar that yeast converts into alcohol during fermentation.
Cider: Adds liquid volume and additional fruit flavour to the wine base.
Powdered red tartar: Adds acidity, sharpening the flavour and balancing the sweetness.