Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Crush the currants and strain off the juice.
Put the juice into a tub.
Let it stand for three days, removing the scum once or twice a day.
Transfer the juice to a keg or barrel.
Ferment
Add 3 pounds of sugar and enough water to make 1 gallon.
If you prefer less sweet wine, reduce the sugar to 2.5 pounds.
Leave the bung off until fermentation ceases, which takes 12 to 15 days.
Fill the cask daily with water.
Rack and age
Once fermentation is complete, carefully rack the wine off using a siphon.
Cleanse the cask thoroughly with boiling water. Return the wine to it.
Stop the cask tightly.
Let it stand for 4 to 5 months.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currants
- Provide the juice that forms the base of the wine and its fruit flavour.
- White sugar
- Feeds fermentation and sets the final sweetness of the wine.
The step that matters
Leave the bung off until fermentation ceases. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide, and a sealed vessel can build pressure or burst while the wine is still active. Keeping the bung off lets gas escape until activity stops.
“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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