Name: Raisin Wine
Ingredients: 2 pounds seeded and chopped raisins; 1 pound white loaf sugar; 1 lemon; 6 quarts boiling water

Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raisin Wine

Ingredients

2 pounds seeded and chopped raisins
1 pound white loaf sugar
1 lemon
6 quarts boiling water

Directions

Make the wine

In a stone jar, combine the raisins, sugar, and lemon.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture and stir well.
Stir the mixture every day for a week.

Bottle and rest

After a week, strain the mixture and bottle it.
Let it sit for 10 to 12 days before using.

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.

Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Raisins: Provide sugar, fruit flavor, and body to the wine as they steep and ferment.
White loaf sugar: Supplies sweetness and feeds the fermentation that turns the liquid into wine.
Lemon: Adds acidity and brightness that balance the sweetness of the raisins and sugar.