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Rhubarb Wine

A fermented beverage made from chopped rhubarb, sugar, and water.

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

Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Rhubarb Wine

9 gallons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Chop the rhubarb stalks.

  2. Press the juice from the rhubarb.

  3. Add the sugar and enough water to make 9 gallons of wine.

Ferment and age

  1. Pour the mixture into a cask and cover it with a cloth until fermentation stops.

  2. Plug the barrel and let it sit for 3 months.

  3. Bottle the wine or transfer it to a clean cask that is completely filled.

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. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Rhubarb + winetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together89 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  3. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 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

Rhubarb
Provides the juice and tart flavor that the wine is built on.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and sweetness balanced against the rhubarb's acidity.

The step that matters

Transfer to a completely filled cask. Filling the vessel fully leaves little air above the wine, which limits oxidation and spoilage while it ages. Any headspace left after fermentation can let the wine darken or sour during the months it sits.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits about as well
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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