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 ↓
Ctjreant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Mash the currants until they are reduced to a pulp.
Strain the pulp through a thick woolen bag.
Ferment
Put the juice in a barrel, adding 4 pounds of sugar for every gallon of juice.
Leave space in the barrel for fermentation, then bung it close.
Set it in a cool place to ferment.
Rack and bottle
Rack it off in November, then bottle it when ready.
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.
-
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 and fruit flavor that the wine is built on.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and sets the sweetness and alcohol level of the wine.
The step that matters
Leave space in the barrel for fermentation. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide and can foam vigorously. Leaving headspace prevents the juice from overflowing, and bunging the barrel only loosely lets gas escape while keeping air out.
“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 currant wine recipes
You might also like
Black Currant Cordial11 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 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.