Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the must
Bruise the grapes and combine them with water in a large container.
Let the mixture stand for 8 days.
Draw off the liquid.
Sweeten and bottle
Add 3 pounds of sugar for each gallon of water and stir well.
Let it stand overnight before bottling.
Age
Allow to age for 3 to 4 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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 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
- Delaware grapes
- Supply the juice, sugars for fermentation, and aromatic compounds that give the wine its flavour.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide, and adds sweetness to balance acidity.
- Water
- Dilutes the grape juice and provides the liquid base in which fermentation takes place.
The step that matters
Bruising the grapes with water. Breaking the skins releases juice and exposes sugars and flavour compounds to fermentation. Crushing too finely can release bitter tannins from seeds and skins, so bruise gently.
“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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