Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Gooseberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Bruise the gooseberries in a tub.
Add 1 gallon of cold spring water to the bruised fruit and stir.
Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.
Strain the mash through a fine sieve or cloth.
To every gallon of juice, add 4 pounds of white loaf sugar and stir until dissolved.
Ferment and bottle
Add 2 quarts of brandy for every 10 gallons of juice and 0.5 ounce of isinglass.
Set the cask in a cool place, leaving the bung out until fermentation nearly ceases.
Draw off into bottles and cork tightly immediately.
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.
-
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit flavour, acidity and the juice that becomes the wine.
- White loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and feeds the yeast, which turns it into alcohol during fermentation.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that strengthens the wine and helps preserve it.
- Isinglass
- Fining agent that helps clear the wine by settling suspended particles.
The step that matters
Leaving the bung out until fermentation nearly ceases. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide. If the cask is sealed too early, pressure can build up and the cask may burst, while the wine must finish fermenting before it is corked tightly in bottles.
“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.
More gooseberry wine recipes
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.