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Drink

Elderberry Wine

A fermented beverage made from elderberries, water, sugar, raisins, and optional spices, aged with alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Elderberry Wine

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Elderberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Place elderberries in a saucepan with enough water to prevent burning and simmer until the juice flows freely.

  2. Cool the elderberry juice.

  3. Strain the elderberry juice.

Make the must

  1. Boil 4 quarts of water, 4 pounds of sugar, and ½ pound of raisins together for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain the boiled mixture.

  3. Cool the strained mixture.

  4. Add 1 quart of elderberry juice to the cooled mixture and let it stand for 24 hours, skimming well.

  5. Spread yeast on a piece of toast about 1 inch square and drop it into the mixture to ferment for about 3 weeks.

Age and bottle

  1. Strain the liquid into a cask.

  2. Seal the cask tightly for 2 months.

  3. Add ½ cup of brandy, rum, or alcohol per gallon of liquid before bottling.

  4. If desired, add 1 ounce each of cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, and ½ ounce each of nutmeg and mace for every 4 gallons before bottling.

  5. Let the wine age for 6 months before using.

  6. Store in a cool place.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Elderberries
Provide the juice that gives the wine its colour, flavour and tannins.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation and sets the wine's sweetness and alcohol level.
Raisins
Add extra sugars and nutrients that help the yeast ferment the must.
Yeast
Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Brandy, rum, or alcohol
Raises the alcohol content, which helps preserve the finished wine.

The step that matters

Strain the boiled mixture and cool it before adding the juice and yeast. Adding juice or yeast to a mixture that is still hot can kill the yeast, stopping fermentation before it starts. Cooling first keeps the yeast active.

“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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